New Yorkers helped a South Carolina tourist get his marriage plans back on track after he bungled his surprise proposal — by dropping the engagement ring down a sidewalk grate in Times Square.
Chasmon Wilson’s nightmare began at 8 p.m. on a rainy Saturday in March when the truck driver brought his girlfriend of eight years, Kayla Pressley, to the Crossroads of the World to propose to her with a $1,600 princess-cut diamond, white-gold engagement ring.
As Wilson produced the small Kay Jewelers box, the ring suddenly popped out and fell through a sidewalk grate, falling 20 feet below ground to a trash-strewn ledge.
“It was like everything moved in slow motion,” Wilson, 33, told The Post. “I was in disbelief that this is what we came to New York for and it fell through. I felt like the worst man on the planet Earth.”
Wilson said he had planned to propose more than 1,000 feet above Midtown at One Vanderbilt, with its panoramic views, but got “cold feet” when he saw the crowds. He pivoted, opting to propose in Times Square.