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 and a third is reportedly being sought.

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, confined space operation on the evening of Feb. 16.

“They left him there to die,” 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.

At least four teens climbed onto the Queens side of the bridge, according to social media posts. They were reportedly part of an “urban exploration” or “urbex” group who climb city infrastructure and abandoned buildings, often in dangerous settings and post videos on social media such as Tik Tok. That was apparently the plan on the afternoon of Feb. 16 but the plan went horribly awry.

When he fell, his companions filmed his anguished moans, from the bottom of the shaft, according to a reddit post, and then fled taking Frankie’s his cell phone. One OP claimed one of the fleeing teens took Frankie’s cell phone and “tossed it into a sewer.” Allocca was apparently at the bottom of the shaft from 3 p.m. for up to six hours before help arrived. Police said they did not receive a 911 call until about 5:46 p,m. nearly three hours after the fall. Firefighters did not locate him until 8:15 p.m. when a complex, hours-long rescue effort began. The FDNY’s elite Rescue One finally reached him at the bottom of the 50 ft shaft around 8:50 p.m. according to FDNY Lt Christopher Gaulrapp. But police said the operation did not wrap up until after 11 p.m. when the teen as rushed by EMS to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in critical condition.

The two people who 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 arrested on Feb. 18 and charged with criminal trespass.

The delayed alarm alerting first responders only happened because a teen who was not on the bridge but was alerted by the What’s App conversations by Frankie’s companions realized first responders were never notified about the accident. Adriana Vincente, an 18-year-old told Gothamist that she was the one who called but since she was never on the bridge with the other teens could not precisely tell police where the stricken teen had 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’.”

It took a second call before firefighters and police, searching down numerous shafts on the bridge, finally saw a shoe and blood inside one shaft near the Roosevelt Island side until around 8:15 p.m. By then, Frankie was lying injured, and bleeding at the bottom of the dark shaft for over five hours and hypothermia began to set in.

“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 1,700 signatories by the evening of Feb. 26 “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 started by a family friend had raised over $19,000 by the evening of Feb. 26 toward a goal of $20,000. “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.”

About 75 firefighters and EMS personnel responded along with an NYPD helicopter over the bridge and an NYPD police boat in the East River underneath it. The FDNY said the victim had be encased in a Spec Pac to be hoisted out of the shaft. 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 NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and stabilized but the full extent of his injuries were not known at the time. Since then, brain and spinal injuries were disclosed by his mom, who could not be reached by Our Town. There are no public updates on the teen’s condition, and David Darcy, who set up the GoFundMe to raise funds for Allocca’s mother, did not return several emails.