A trans-Atlantic love affair has sprouted between a once anonymous English couple who lost an engagement ring down a utility grate on New York City’s Times Square, returning home thinking that it was gone forever, and the New York City Police Department officers who found it in the muck.
“I cannot thank you enough, although I will try,” Englishman John Drennan said in a tweet directed at the New York police on Sunday. “A few cold beers when we come back to NYC. We are completely overwhelmed and you will definitely get a mention at our wedding.”
The police had been looking for Drennan and his fiancee, Daniella Anthony, since they retrieved the ring on Saturday morning. He proposed to her in Central Park and she said it slipped off her finger and fell into the Times Square grate late on Friday night.
“I was devastated,” Anthony told the New York Times. “I was literally crying. It was the worst moment of my life.”
They asked for help, but police officers were initially unsuccessful at getting the ring out and the couple left for England without leaving their names or contact information. Drennan even bought a second ring shortly after arriving at the airport.
Meanwhile, police officers continued their search, and on Saturday morning they finally located the ring about 2.5m underground.
“Fortunately, it was actually kind of sitting on top of all of that stuff, so it really wasn’t hard to find. It was just a small object like that in the midst of all the garbage,” said Detective Joseph Bucchignano, who spotted the ring.
In an effort to identify the anonymous couple, the police put out a video message on social media showing them searching for the ring before police had arrived. Drennan is seen on his stomach peering through the grate.
Drennan told the newspaper that they had planned to keep the lost ring a secret, but a friend forwarded him the police Twitter message and Drennan then called New York City police on Sunday.
Drennan explained that he had put a lot of thought into the proposal and had carried the ring in his pocket for two days.
“I want to clarify that I did not propose over a grate in Times Square — that’s where we lost it,” he told the BBC, adding that he proposed in Central Park two hours earlier. “The time was right. There were autumn leaves everywhere and not many people.”
Anthony said yes, but the ring was too big for her finger.
“I tried to tell John it was too big, but he insisted I wear it,” she said.
“I told her it was fine. I was just so happy to finally call her my fiance after all this time,” Drennan added. “We were walking back to the hotel. I can still visualize the ring.Bouncing once, bouncing twice and then it was gone.”
Additional reporting by the Guardian
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