Queensborough Bridge Shaft Fall Teen ‘Left to Die’: Report

A 16-year-old boy abandoned by companions after he tumbled down a 50 ft. maintenance shaft on the Queensboro Bridge has sustained brain injuries, according to the boy’s mother, who said his companions fled and left him to die.

Two teens have been arrested in connection with the incident, police said.

The injured teen’s mother, Vanessa Tineo, said in an interview with Gothamist that her son, Frankie Allocca, has been “in and out of consciousness” since he was rescued by firefighters in a complex hours long operation on Feb. 16.

“They left him there to die,” said Tineo said of the companions who fled after her son’s fall. She told the outlet her son will live but he sustained brain injuries from the fall and will have to learn to walk again.

According to social media posts, at least four companions went with Frankie when they climbed onto the Queens side of the bridge. They were reportedly part of group known as “urban exploration” or “urbex” who record themselves climbing city infrastructure, abandonded structures, often in dangerous settings and record them and post it on social media.

When he fell, his companions filmed his anguished moans from the bottom of the shaft and then fled taking his cell phone with them, according to social media posts. One OP claimed one of the companions took Frankie’s cell phone and tossed it into a sewer. And it appears he was at the bottom of the shaft from 3 p.m. for at up to six hours. Firefighters did not locate him until 8:15 p.m. when a tedious, hours long rescue began. Rescue 1 said it finally reached him at the bottom of the 50 shaft around 8:50 p.m. according to FDNY Christopher Gaulrapp. but the operation did not wrap up until after 11 p.m. when he was rushed by EMS to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in critical condition.

The two who people have been arrested so far include a 14-year-old boy, who turned himself into police on Feb. 19 and was charged with reckless endangerment and trespassing and a 15-old who was charged with criminal trespass.

As Our Town first reported, chatter on social media said Frankie fell down the shaft around 3 p.m. But police said the first 911 call did not come in until 5:46 p.m., nearly three hours after he fell down the shaft and police were initially unable to locate him.

That delayed alarm only happened because someone who was not on the bridge got alerted from Frankie’s companions and a What’s App chat and realized that first responders were never notified about the incident. Adriana Vincente, an 18-year-old told the Gothamist that she was the called but was not among the companions who were on the bridge with Allocca so could not precisely tell police where the stricken teen might have fallen.

“The kids who were with him contacted me because they did not know what to do,” Vincente told Gothamist. “They were scared of getting a murder charge. I was like ‘I’m going to call the police’.”

Even then, police initially did not find the injured teen after they responded to the first 911 call. It took a second call at 8:15 before firefighters, searching down numerous shafts on the bridge, finally saw a shoe and blood inside the shaft where the teen had fallen.

A video on FDNY X said members of Rescue 1 and other first responders had to search two or three of the bridge anchorages because none of the people who were with the victim when he fell were on the bridge to pinpoint the exact location. FDNY confined space rescue did not get underway until 8:50 p.m. By then, the victim had been at the bottom of the shaft nearly six hours.

“The FDNY had to search each shaftway of the Queensboro bridge until they found Frankie’s shoe and blood,” said a petition on Change.org, which was calling for the companions to be criminally prosecuted. It had over 1,100 signatories by the evening of Feb. 19. “None of the people involved in the accident including all of the ‘friends’ involved were present at the rescue,” according to the petition entitled “Investigate and Charge ‘Friends’ of Frankie for Leaving Him to Die.”

The post continued: “This tragedy could have very well resulted in the death of 16-year-old Frankie. Frankie’s ‘friends’ could have prevented Frankie from sustaining additional life threatening injuries and hypothermia by immediately calling for emergency services.”

A GoFundMe had raised over $14,500 toward a goal of $18,000 goal by Feb. 20, four days after the nearly fatal accident. “No one deserves to be abandoned in their worst moment,” the GoFundMe post said. “After he fell, the people he was with recorded him as he screamed for help. Instead of helping him, they left him there. They even took his phone and disposed of it, leaving him with no way to call for help. Frankie lay alone for over four hours, bleeding and exposed to the cold. By the time help arrived, he had lost a severe amount of blood and was hypothermic.”

“Doctors have said he is expected to live and walk again,” the GoFundMe said. “His survival is nothing short of a miracle. But he now faces a long road of surgeries, recovery, and rehabilitation. Medical bills are rising quickly as he begins the difficult process of rebuilding his life.”

About 75 firefighters and EMS personnel responded along with an NYPD helicopter over the bridge and an NYPD police boat in the water. FDNY Lt Gaulrapp said the opening was less than 3 ft by 3 ft and required that the victim be encased in a Spec Pac to be hoisted out of the shaft. The rescue operation did not wrap until after 11 p.m. A police dispatcher the night of the rescue said the injured teen was a “code red patient” which meant the injured person was critical with life threatening injuries.

He was brought to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and stabilized but the full extent of his injuries were not known at the time. Reports said he has spinal and brain injuries.