Girl,15, dies for her phone
Tribeca tragedy for girl, 15
A 15-year-old aspiring actress wanted so badly to retrieve her cellphone from a locked room at a Tribeca house party that she climbed onto the fire escape to get in through a window — and fell to her death, police and other sources said Monday.
Imogen Roche slipped and plunged five stories from the apartment building on Reade Street near West Broadway at around 11 p.m. Sunday, according to law-enforcement sources.
She landed on her back and was rushed to Bellevue Hospital Center, where she died.
“This is heartbreaking, literally heartbreaking,” said one of the teenager’s neighbors, Vicki Water.
“She was adorable, and [her dad] was amazing father, a single parent.”
The apartment’s owner was out of town, and some of the teens at the bash were drinking, police said.
At some point, Roche, who was a sophomore at Beacon HS in the Theater District, climbed from a window onto the fire escape to try to get her phone — then lost her balance as she was maneuvering into the window of the locked room on the right side of the building, according to cops.
Friends knew the teen as quiet and smart with a knack for theater.
“In class, she was very attentive, disciplined and a good listener. Very bright,” said a former teacher.
“She was very close to her dad. They were always together.”
Her father, Theseus Roche, works as a director of after-school programs for Manhattan Youth. He’s a writer, actor and a member of the Screen Actors Guild. Her mom lives in Wisconsin. Imogen followed in her father’s footsteps, posting several videos online of herself reading plays such as “Spring Awakening.”
“I can’t believe this happened,” one of the tragic teen’s pals wrote on Instagram.
“No words can begin to describe how much you meant to me and impacted my life . . . I just wish I could see you one more time. I have always cared about you so much more than you know, you are in a better place now.”
At the building where Imogen fell, the windows leading to the fire escape are built in a dangerous way, said a former resident.
“I remember the ledges were really high on the window. When I was there, I always wondered, if there was a fire, how would I get out,” said Eugene Yoo, who lived in a sixth-floor loft, one level above where Roche fell.
“It would actually be a big climb [from the fire escape] to the window,” Yoo said.
Imogen’s parents couldn’t be reached for comment Monday.