Officers from the 90th Precinct responded at 6 AM this morning to a 911 call, closing off an alley at the rear of 248 McKibbin Street to investigate the death of a man who fell from the building’s roof.
The victim was a white male, aged 25, who suffered trauma to his head and chest. He was removed from the scene and taken to nearby Woodhull Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
A witness to the scene reported to BushwickBK that the victim may have fallen or jumped off the roof and was not breathing at the time.
An officer said the investigation is ongoing and the medical examiner has yet to determine the exact cause of death.
ssss January 29th, 2010 at 12:40 am
The management/ownership for 248 McKibbin St should be held liable for this.
They have done so little to prevent or reprimand the type of idiotic drunken behavior on their rooftop – which has become almost synonymous with “McKibbin Lofts” – that there is now a distinct contrast between the 255 and 248 rooftops.
It’s not uncommon, during warmer weather, to see groups of 20-30 kids aged 16-25 leaning on 248′s rooftop fences, throwing bottles, lighting firecrackers, and hurling obscenities below. Meanwhile, party-goers at 255 who get up to the roof can’t be there for more than 10 minutes without getting chased off by building supervisors (or police who have been called in).
248′s management has proven by their inaction in handling parties and the roof situation that they have no interest in protecting their building or its inhabitants and their guests (and so they have with other “interactions” with their residents). I’m sure on a Wednesday night in January it may have been a different situation, but something needs to be done to get this building’s management to do the right thing. If not, this type of thing will become a common occurrence, and soon enough the playground will be closing.
sweetser January 29th, 2010 at 8:51 am
The management should be held liable for what you describe as idiotic drunken behavior on their rooftop? What happened to personal responsibility? Instead of casting blame on something like this, just accept that if you drink and play on a rooftop there are very serious risks.
Melisa January 29th, 2010 at 11:52 am
The 248 Management installed alarms on the doors leading to the roofs and police patrol the roof every now and then too. Accidents and suicides happen….
chillinoncentral January 29th, 2010 at 12:34 pm
This is so sad. At 25, so young, you have to feel for his family. Having had a distant (legal research) role in a similar situation, I can offer (as a novice) that the management/ownership of the property will not likely be seen as liable unless negligence can be proven. I’m sure there will be a claim of negligence against the owner’s insurance policy, and the claim rep that is assigned to fully investigate the claim will form the only opinion that will matter. With that said, we can speculate that whether the young man was drunk or not, or whether he had authorized access to the rooftop or not, the argument will be that he is 100% responsible for any injuries (or death) occurring as a result of his fall… and that argument (personal liability) is a tough argument to win against. The victim’s family can argue negligence because ownership may not have provided adequate protection against the fall (like a small fence just a few feet from the rooftop perimeter), but ownership can counter if a natural event (such as ice on the rooftop, or unusually high winds) contributed to the fall. Insurance companies commonly deny these claims due to a lack of evidence of negligence; but then, in a separate case, the owner is sued directly and it’s very possible the insurance company then decides to pay a settlement (for at least the amount they would need to otherwise invest into a defense) just to make the whole situation disappear without having to defend themselves in court and without the owner’s need to admit liability.
peter January 29th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
Being a tenant of this building and knowing well this young victim, I’m aware of the facts what happen, his death has nothing to do with the management of this building and there wasn’t any negligence leading to his death. this young fellow suffered from Mantel illnesses and depression in the last few weeks and according to the police detective concluded that this young fellow took his own life jumping from the window of his Bedroom where they found his window open and his door was locked from the inside clearly evidencing that it was no accident,unfortunately he decided to make a end of his life.
it’s a sad story, but not all the time when people make assumptions and think they know what happen is the real story. the reason i share this info is because i saw the above responses and happens to be i know about this tragedy a little more then others that’s why i wrote the facts i know about this story
anonymous January 29th, 2010 at 3:24 pm
as someone who is close to the family of the man who passed, I ask that you please consider the difficulty of this moment and respect his privacy. and, while there may be a time and a place to discuss the building management/ownership/etc, i think the family would rather this is done in some other forum. thank you.
Paul February 7th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
his family read about his death in bushwick bk?