Hardhat dies in fall from 16th floor

A hardhat was killed Friday after falling from the 16th floor of a midtown Manhattan medical center under construction, officials said.

The 52-year-old victim was on the 16th floor of the NYU Langone Ambulatory Care Center on E. 41st St. near Third Ave. around 8:30 a.m. when witnesses saw him plunge to the ground, acording to police accounts.

The victim, a Long Island resident, was pronounced dead at the scene from “trauma throughout the body” officials said. His name was not released.

The victim arrived at work at 6:30 a.m. and took a hoist elevator that runs outside the building to the 16th floor. He fell two hours later in the rear of the building, away from public view, said police.

Ervin Bervisevic, a doorman at a building down the block, saw the aftermath.

“I saw the cop cars and stuff but I didn’t think anything of it,” Bervisevic, 19, said.

“It was like a crowd of people in the middle of the street all looking up and down, up and down. I was hoping somebody didn’t kill themselves.”

The victim’s stunned coworkers stayed in the area for more than an hour consoling each other, Bervisevic said. “It was a scary couple of hours,” he said.

Sheet Metal Workers Local 28 president and business manager Eric Meslin said the 24year union veteran was well-liked.

“I worked with him personally back when we had tools on. He was a good guy to be around,” Meslin said. “He had a big personality. It’s hitting our members hard.”

The NYU Langone Ambulatory Care Center (photo) is home to a number of specialty services like neurology, ophthalmology, plastic surgery and internal medicine, according to its website.

Parts of the building were completed and opened to patients in 2018, hospital officials said.

The city Department of Buildings said Friday that the fatal fall was not related to the construction going on inside.