A 24-year-old man fell from a third-story building in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City, while watching the 2024 New York City Marathon on Sunday, November 4.
The incident occurred around 12:30 p.m. near the intersection of South 6th Street and Bedford Avenue as runners were passing through the area.
According to law enforcement sources, the man fell from a fire escape while attempting to get a better view of the race. Emergency responders found him unconscious and unresponsive at the scene.
The victim was transported to New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, where medical personnel pronounced him dead. The New York Police Department stated they do not suspect foul play, though the investigation remains ongoing.
The location of the incident was near the marathon’s 11-mile checkpoint by the Williamsburg Bridge, where runners were heading north on Bedford Avenue toward the borough of Queens.
A local resident who frequents an establishment on South 6th Street described the block as typically quiet, noting that people are rarely seen entering or exiting the floors above the street-level businesses.
The 53rd annual New York City Marathon drew more than 50,000 registered participants and hundreds of thousands of spectators who lined the 26-mile course through all five boroughs of New York City.
In the main competition, Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands claimed victory in the men’s division with a time of 2 hours, 7 minutes, and 39 seconds. Kenya’s Sheila Chepkirui won the women’s race, completing the course in 2 hours, 24 minutes, and 35 seconds, finishing just 15 seconds ahead of the previous year’s champion.
The marathon began at approximately 8:00 a.m., with more than one million New York residents gathering along the route to support the runners as they traversed the city’s five boroughs.
