New York man downs drink before jumping to death from 16th-floor rooftop bar at Roger Smith Hotel
NEW YORK CITY: A 21-year-old Upper West Side resident plunged to his death after he jumped off the Roger Smith Hotel roof. According to police sources, the man, Henry Kaufman, downed a drink before he took the fatal fall.
Kaufman had the drink at around 9.30 p.m. Tuesday and then proceeded to climb over the ledge. He jumped from the 16th-floor ledge at Henry’s Rooftop Bar at The Roger Smith Hotel, police sources said. CPR was performed on Kaufman before he was taken to the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
Kaufman was pronounced dead on arrival. His former superintendent said Kaufman used to live on the Upper West Side before his family moved to Connecticut in 2016.
As reported by the New York Post, Kaufman's former superintendent, C. Lopez, said, "I’m surprised that he did that there. He was quiet, not that he was anti-social, but from what we saw that wasn’t his scene." Lopez revealed Kaufman was always very respectful growing up with two siblings in the building where the family had lived for around 20 years.
"He used to play basketball with his brother, always into sports," he shared. Kaufman who used to attend the Fordham Preparatory School used to compete in track and field and was also on the debate team.
As per the school's private page, Kaufman would often win tournaments and take home prizes. A worker in his former residence added that Kaufman was into books in his teenage years. "The kid was smart, he was like a nerd, he wasn’t hyper or nothing like that," Handyman Victor Bruno shared.
Other people who were at the rooftop bar were shocked and horrified on Tuesday and revealed Kaufman's fatal plunge came out of nowhere. A woman who was on a date at the time said, "We were all sitting at the rooftop bar and he just ran and he jumped." She added that the incident went unnoticed by the majority of people at the bar.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255)