COCKEYSVILLE, Md. — She asked her co-worker to snap this photo, because she didn't think anyone would believe her. Rontavia Turner was doing something she does nearly every day - boarding the bus home from work, when suddenly the ground opened up beneath her.
"It was kinda like the grass just crumbled," she recalled to WMAR-2 News' Elizabeth Worthington.
She was stuck all the way up to her mid-thigh.
"The fear was, I'm about to get swallowed by this - what I'm assuming now is some sort of sinkhole," she said. "So trying not to go into panic, needless to say, was difficult, because there was no end. My leg was underground but it's dangling so I don't know how far that hole actually goes."
It happened at a bus stop by 11350 McCormick Road in Hunt Valley at the end of October. We submitted a Public Information Act request to Baltimore County Department of Public Works, inquiring about any road work that may have been done in that area. The DPW sent us a work order from a water service restoration in May 2022. Photos show how crews had to rip up part of the road for the work, right at the bus stop where Turner fell.
"This was out of my control, but I'm the one who has to suffer financially," she told WMAR-2 News.
The incident aggravated a pre-existing knee injury. After a trip to the ER, multiple doctors visits, an MRI, and now physical therapy, Turner is left with a mountain of medical bills, and has trouble getting around independently. She lives alone and is visually impaired. She's on unpaid leave from her job at a daycare.
"There is no income coming in currently,” Turned said. “It's beginning to be too much, just too much for one person to handle."
She hired a lawyer and plans to take legal action against Baltimore County. Now, she's hoping for a Christmas miracle.
"Sadly, I won't be able to really have much of a Christmas and I won't be able to barely provide for myself let alone others, so it's kind of sad time of year when December is supposed to be one of the happiest times of the year."
After our story aired on WMAR-2 News, a neighbor started a GoFundMe for Turner.
