A 22-year-old construction worker from Yonkers died after falling 20 feet down an elevator shaft while working on a high-profile luxury building, police said.
Jonathan Lupinski fell two stories to the basement at 281 Fifth Ave. at E. 30th St. about 9:40 a.m. He suffered grave head injuries.
“While stripping the elevator shaft, the worker fell to the cellar level,” a Department of Buildings report said.
Medics rushed him to Bellevue Hospital, where he died, officials said.
“I've known the kid all my life,” said a Yonkers friend, breaking into tears, before going into his home. “I had to watch his mother fall to the ground this morning. Give us a day, man.”
One of Lupinski’s relatives said they had not been fully briefed on what happened. She said he had been a construction worker for five or six years and grew up in Yonkers.
Damodar Dahal, 40, was working at a nearby bodega when he heard the police arrive.
“I heard the sirens and I saw the fire trucks. It was a big scene. At first I thought there was a fire or something,” Dahal said. “Then I found out later that the guy fell down.”
The city Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death.
The construction site has been the subject of several injury complaints since 2015, records show.
In May, a worker hurt an arm and a shoulder while adjusting a concrete bucket. In August 2016, a worker cut his arm on a wire. A pedestrian was hit in the head by a piece of wood blown off the building by wind in July 2016.
The 51-story, 130-apartment luxury condo building was designed by famed architect Rafael Vinoly’s company and is being built by construction giant Lend Lease.
About 20 stories have been created but only the concrete structures and some of the piping.
Exterior decorative glass is stated to be laid at the base.
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A 22-year-old worker died after falling down an elevator shaft at an under-construction Manhattan condominium tower Friday, authorities say.
Fire officials were called to the 52-story tower under construction at 281 Fifth Avenue, near 30th Street, after getting a call about the accident around 9:40 a.m.
The worker, Jonathan Lupinsky of Yonkers, was pronounced dead at a hospital. The circumstances surrounding the accident weren't immediately clear.
The finished building, due to be completed in 2019, is expected to house more than 100 condo units and thousands of square feet of retail space.
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MIDTOWN, NYC — A 22-year-old worker died after falling about two stories down an elevator shaft at a construction site for a luxury Fifth Avenue condo building Friday morning, officials said.
Jonathan Lupinsky, of Yonkers, fell down the shaft at the 281 Fifth Ave. site about 9:40 a.m., an NYPD spokesman said. He suffered trauma to his head and was pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital, the spokesman added.
Tony Ortiz, 39, was working as a doorman across Fifth Avenue when he noticed several fire trucks and ambulances in front of the building.
“I was hoping they're OK," Ortiz said. "Construction workers are getting hurt left and right."
It was not immediately clear what the worker was doing when he fell or if he was wearing any safety gear.
Workers are constructing a 55-story residential building at the site designed by architect Rafael Viñoly that is touted as the "intersection of uptown sophistication and downtown style," according to the development's website.
The Department of Buildings is also investigating, a spokesman said.
The building owner of 281 Fifth Ave. is listed as the Victor Group, and calls to the company were not immediately returned.
There were several signs posted around the work site concerning worker safety, including one posted at an entrance showing how to put on a safety harness.
DNAinfo/Ben Fractenberg The death marks the latest in a string of incidents involving construction workers.
Three workers were injured in June when 1,000 pounds of construction material fell from an Astoria roof.
Earlier that month, another worker died after falling 10 stories at a Hudson Yards construction site.
A few weeks prior to that, a worker was injured when a steel beam plunged 12 stories at a NoHo site.