INWOOD — An Inwood father broke his hip as he fell from a cliff in Fort Tryon Park in an attempt to flee two men he thought were mugging him, sources said.
The man, 35, was coming home from work at the New Leaf Café, which sits in the center of Fort Tryon Park, at 9 p.m. Sunday when he was approached by two men on the hill alongside Riverside Drive, according to his wife.
DNAinfo was asked not to identify the family amid fears for its safety.
The victim told police he saw something "shiny" in the men's hands which he thought was a knife. He tried to run away, police said.
He hopped over a stone wall that borders the pathway along the cliff and tumbled several feet onto Riverside Drive below, sources said. Fort Tryon Park is one of the highest elevations in Manhattan, according to the Parks Department.
“He said he thought about his [two] boys while running and wanted to make sure he could get out OK,” his wife said. “He didn’t have any money on him, all he had was his phone, and he was worried they would be mad that he didn’t have anything else.”
“His choice was run off a cliff or get stabbed,” she later added. “If they stabbed him on the hill, they could have left him for dead.”
After the victim tumbled to the roadway beneath the steep Ft. Tryon cliff, a neighbor heard him screaming from the sidewalk below the pathway and called 911, neighbors said.
He was taken to St. Luke's Hospital where he was treated for minor lacerations and underwent surgery to install a rod from the top of his femur to the bend above his right knee that connects to the hip joint, his wife and police said.
“It’s going to be a long recovery, especially for someone who works on his feet,” the victim’s wife, 34, said of the expected six months it will take for the victim to walk on his own again.
Police said they were unable to immediately speak to the victim because he was being treated at the hospital, but interviewed him Tuesday. They are currently investigating the incident, according to the commanding officer of the 34th Precinct.
According to the victim’s wife, her husband was in good spirits while being treated at St. Luke’s and said he felt lucky to be alive and was eager to return home to his one-year-old and three-year-old sons.
The victim’s wife said this is not the first incident to involve workers at the New Leaf Café. She said a kitchen worker was recently injured while trying to break up a mugging in the park as he left the restaurant after his shift.
“There’s no good entrance or exit to get out of the park,” she said.
"My husband says he sees bad things going on in the park all the time."
The alleged event comes on the heels of two violent attacks in Isham Park, approximately 15 blocks north of Fort Tryon Park.
In one case an Inwood family was able to thwart an attempted robbery by three male teens with a fake gun.
In another incident, a man injured his leg when a group of teens stole his iPhone and wallet.
The incidents have renewed calls for more police patrols in northern Manhattan parks. In June, community leaders and elected officials called on the NYPD and Parks Department to add more officers on the streets and in area parks after a string of sexual attacks in the 34th Precinct.
An additional 50 police officers were added to the precinct shortly after and have stayed working in Inwood and Washington Heights since, according to Ibrahim Khan, a spokesman for State Sen. Adriano Espaillat.
Additionally, a group of residents are working together with the NYPD and Espaillat to form a Civilian Observation Patrol that will work in tandem with police to patrol Inwood.
“These incidents are exactly why Senator Espaillat has been working on the formation of a civilian patrol,” said Khan after learning about the attack.
That group plans to meet again on Thursday, Dec. 22, at 7 p.m. at 5030 Broadway in the sixth floor conference room. For more information or to RSVP call 212-544-0173.
