Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Upper East Side Man Falls to His Death, Lands in Starbucks Seating Area

By DNAinfo Staff on July 26, 2010 8:43am

By Shayna Jacobs

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

UPPER EAST SIDE — Customers were horrified after a man plunged 17 stories to his death and landed in the outdoor seating area of a popular Starbucks on the Upper East Side early Sunday evening.

Todd Crockett, 38, fell onto the outdoor seating area at Starbucks at 85th Street and First Avenue around 6:23 p.m. in an apparent suicide, police said. Crockett was a resident of Adam's Tower at 351 E. 84th St. Police have ruled out foul play and the incident is under investigation, police said.

Witnesses said there were customers sitting in the Starbucks patio at the time of the fall, including two women who were within a few feet of the body when it hit the asphalt.

The medical examiner arrived at the scene.
The medical examiner arrived at the scene.
View Full Caption
DNAinfo/Shayna Jacobs

Upper East Side resident Dave Hall said he frequents the Starbucks patio and was stunned by the incident.

"I've sat there many times having coffee with my iPhone, on my computer," Hall said. "It's the last thing you'd see happening."

Shocked neighbors clustered behind police lines Sunday night discussing the apparent suicide.

The building's superintendent led police to Crockett's $3,200-per-month, one-bedroom apartment. He said nothing was visibly out of place.

Crockett was a new tenant who had only lived in the building about two months, superintendent Joe Alicea told DNAinfo. He was married but did not have children and "kept to himself."

Police did not find drugs, alcohol or a suicide note in Crockett's apartment, just a couple of personal effects — a baseball cap and glasses, Alicea said. 

Alicea, who has worked in the building for 41 years, said it is not the building's first suicide.

In the 1980s, a college student jumped to his death from the 27th floor and a small child died from a fall at least 30 years ago, the veteran employee recalled. 

The coroner wheeled the remains of Sunday's possible jumper to a transport van.
The coroner wheeled the remains of Sunday's possible jumper to a transport van.
View Full Caption
DNAinfo/Shayna Jacobs

"I didn't expect to see anyone else jump," he said. "I'm retiring in February."

The city coroner picked up the remains of the possible jumper.
The city coroner picked up the remains of the possible jumper.
View Full Caption
DNAinfo/Shayna Jacobs