A 51-year-old man was pulled dead from the Harlem River in Morris Heights, the Bronx, according to the NYPD. FDNY crews responded to the waterway at 10 Richman Plaza on Saturday, where fire personnel removed the man from the water before paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.
According to News 12 New York, the FDNY water rescue unit was dispatched to that stretch of the river Saturday, and fire crews carried out the recovery. Paramedics who arrived at the scene made the pronouncement of death on site.
Identity Withheld, Cause Still Under Review
The man's identity has not been released, with authorities withholding his name pending notification of his family, the station's report notes. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will now determine the cause and manner of death, a step that remains pending as of Sunday.
No further details about what led to the man being in the river have been made public. Per the same account, investigators have not indicated whether foul play is a factor, and no additional information has been released about the circumstances surrounding his death.
Not the First Body Pulled From New York's Waterways
The Harlem River and other New York City waterways have been the site of other grim discoveries in recent years, though the circumstances have varied widely. In May 2023, the body of 13-year-old Garrett Warren was pulled from the Harlem River, and his death was ruled an accidental drowning with no signs of trauma or foul play, according to Metro.co.uk. Around the same time, the body of 11-year-old Alfa Ousmane Barrie was recovered from the Hudson River off the Upper West Side after he had been missing for more than a week, with an autopsy scheduled to determine his exact cause of death, Metro reported.
Those earlier cases involved children; Warren's death was ruled an accidental drowning, while Barrie's exact cause of death was still to be determined by an autopsy. In this latest case, officials have not yet said how the 51-year-old man came to be in the Harlem River, and the medical examiner's findings are expected to shed light on how he died.
