Boy Thrown From Roof by Teen Neighbor Still Fighting for Life
A 9-year-old boy was thrown from the roof of his home in the Bronx after a neighbor allegedly dragged him to the top of the building and threw him off. He is now fighting for his life while his neighbor has been taken into custody.
"Stop! Stop!" Freddy Martin yelled as his neighbor, 17-year-old Casmine Aska, dragged him to the roof of their five-story building. Aska then picked him up and threw him over the ledge, police and witnesses said. As the young boy lay on the concrete, he cried for his mother, witnesses told New York Daily News.
"I looked out the window and was scared. I saw his body on the ground," Wanda Simonetti told the Daily News. "That door (to the roof) is always open. People have complained to the super, but nothing happens."
Police originally thought that Martin had fallen from the fire escape, but in the ambulance, he was able to tell them what truly happened. Unfortunately, he then lost consciousness and, by the time he arrived at New York Presbyterian-Columbia Medical Center, he had to be put on life support.
"The kid told a cop, when they were going to the hospital, that he was thrown from a roof. The boy named the suspect," a source told the Daily News.
Aska attempted to leave the building with his family, but police took him into custody. He gave several versions of the events that led to Martin being thrown off the roof, police said.
"He said Freddy tried to grab him, and in doing so, fell from the roof," the officer told the Daily News. But there is "physical evidence" showing that Martin was dragged the entire way, and Aska has been charged with attempted murder.
The news has stunned those who know Aska, including family and neighbors.
"For him to do anything wrong to that kid, no, no. Maybe something went wrong and it was by accident," neighbor Philip Rivera told CBS News.
Martin remains on life support.
