Window-fix tragedy
UES dad in death plunge
An Upper East Side father fell to his death Friday as he tried to fix a window in his 12th-floor apartment — while his wife was in another room, authorities said.
Michael Courtian, 55, was standing on a chair repairing a screen on a living-room window in his home at East 87th Street and Third Avenue at about 9:45 a.m. when he slipped and fell out, police sources and witnesses said.
Construction workers heard him hit the ground, rushed to his side and performed CPR, sources said.
“It just happened so quick,” said hard hat Humberto Vargas, 41, who happened to see Courtian standing near the window before he fell.
“My boss helped a cop give him CPR,” Varga said.
Stunned onlookers spotted Courtian, unconscious and not breathing, on the tree-lined block. A wrench and a can of WD-40 were found near him.
“I just saw that he was on the ground. At one point I saw his lips were purple,” said Liseth Colon, 20, who works at Maison Kayser on the first floor of the building.
His wife was home — just a few yards from him in another room, when the tragedy struck, according to a police source.
She later emerged from the building in tears, escorted by two police officers.
“I saw two men holding a lady’s arms, one on each side, walking her away [from her husband],” said Fatou Sillah, 55, who works at Modell’s Sporting Goods nearby. “She was obviously crying.”
His kids were at school at the time he slipped. “He left behind two very beautiful daughters,” said one neighbor, who asked not to be identified.
Courtian was rushed to Metropolitan Hospital Center where he was pronounced dead.
He had background working in the financial industry, according to a 2005 press release that notes he worked in investor relations at Moody’s Corporation.
Cops believe the plunge was an accident.