New York Daily News

Alive after fall from 10th floor

- BY CHRIS SOMMERFELD­T and BEN KOCHMAN bkochman@nydailynew­s.com

POLICE are probing a man’s suspicious, near-fatal plunge out of a 10thfloor window at his hotel on the Upper West Side Saturday.

The city visitor, 29, plummeted from the window at the Days Inn on W. 94th St. near Amsterdam Ave. at around 3:30 p.m, officials said. He landed on constructi­on scaffoldin­g in front of the hotel.

Cops were interviewi­ng witnesses and poring over security footage to determine whether the man fell, jumped or was pushed, police sources said.

The man is from Washington State and had checked into the hotel on Thursday, cops said.

Broken glass, possibly from the 10th-floor window, was found on the scaffoldin­g near where the man landed — leading investigat­ors to suspect foul play, a police source said.

“If he would have jumped, he would have opened the window,” the source suggested.

Emergency responders found the man still alive but bleeding from the eyes, ears and mouth. He was taken (photo above) in critical condition to St. Luke’s Hospital, where, a police source said he was in a medically induced coma.

The impact of the man’s body hitting the scaffoldin­g “sounded like a gunshot,” said witness Michael Lopez, 26.

Hotel guest Gabrielle Battin, 21, said she heard two loud “booms” from her room on the 13th floor — but had no idea it was a body falling. “I was just thinking something fell,” she said.

Ten minutes later, she tried to leave the hotel to get food, but cops stopped her in the lobby and said she would not be able to get back in for hours, she said.

A witness said that Days Inn staffers were seen turning over the man’s hotel receipts to police.

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