Egg Tossing Teen Falls to Death from Harlem Roof

19-year-old David Diaz (pictured here with his former girlfriend) recently moved from Harlem to the Bronx, but on the last night of his life he was palling around with friends in his old neighborhood, tossing eggs off a roof on West 135th Street. When one of their targets headed up on the roof to confront the teens—wielding a knife according to one report—the youths scattered. The Daily News says that Diaz, his right arm in a sling from a football injury, tried to escape by jumping over a brick wall he thought separated one building from another. Instead, he fell six stories to the courtyard below.

"All you heard was 'Boom! Boom!" says David Ruiz, president of the building's tenant association. He tells the News that Diaz "hit an air conditioner and then the [ground] floor. But he was alive. This kid was so strong he kept trying to sit up." Police say Diaz sustained two broken legs and was rushed to St. Luke's Hospital in critical condition, where he died Monday morning "of multiple trauma." Ruiz tells the Post that down in the courtyard "he was telling us with his hands that he was running and fell off." With a tabloid flourish, the Post also notes that Diaz's fingerprints were still visible yesterday on the window with the air-conditioning unit, "where he had clawed at the glass in a desperate bid to brace himself."

His distraught mother Rosa Diaz tells the News, "He was my baby. He was a good boy. They were just fooling around. This shouldn't have happened ... This is terrible. I want to find peace." And Pablo Rosario, coach of the Harlem Jaguars community football team that Diaz played on, spent yesterday passing around a football for his team to sign: "I am just going to take it to his mother. Hopefully, she'll decide to let him take it with him."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By John Del Signore in News on October 14, 2008 9:30 AM

Comments [rss]

RIPDBLOCK

I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT YOU PEOPLE ARE EVEN SAYING SUCH A THING .. DBLOCK(DAVID DIAZ) WAS ONE OF THE NICEST BOYS I HAVE EVER MET IN MY ETIRE LIFE. HE HAD A SMILE THAT COULD LIGHT UP YOUR ENTIRE UNIVERSE . AND ITS BEEN 1 YEAR GOING ON TWO SINCE THIS DAY HAPPEN AND I STILL CRY SOMETIME KNOWING THAT I WILL NEVER SEE DBLOCK AGAIN. YES I WAS THERE AND I WAS ONE OF THE PEOPLE THAT HE WAS THROWING EGGS AT .. BY THE WAY THEY DIDNT HIT ANYONE !! WE WERE ALL HAVING FUN AND I BET HE WAS TOO . I WENT HOME THAT NIGHT WITH A SMILEON MY FACE AND THEN TO GET A CALL SAYING THAT HE PASSED AWAY JUST MADE MY WHOLE WORLD DROP. I CONSIDERED DBLOCK AS MY BIGGER BROTHER AND EVERYONE SAYING THAT THIS WAS A GOOD PUNISHMENT CULD GO TO HELL . REST IN PEACE DBLOCK. I MISS YOU & I LOVE YOU . GONE BUT NEVER EVER EVER FORGOTTEN .. 62589-101308 !!!

HellsYeah

Again, RIP DAVE.

Ilydaividdaizfuckoffhaters

How can you say some stuff like that?

You dont even know him I'm here crying my heart out while all you assholes are writing about how he deserved to die.

David was the nicest and coolest kid i knew he was just having fun,yes he have done bad things.

But he never deserved this he had a shining future a great family and friends.

so much....this feels as if it isn't even real..I feel as if this is all a dream and im going to wake up. I didn't think i ever had to put up with pain this big.

Ilydaividdaizfuckoffhaters

You guys are fucking assholes.

I knew the guy. wth you mean it served him right?

At least he fucking finished highschool intend of all your thick ass minded fuck faces.

Get on the gtfo truck

KTHXBYE.

Vibraphone

I've been egged on the street by punks before. I can't say that I didn't take a Roman holiday, but out of respect for the family, if I was the owner of the A/C he fell on, I'd wait a couple of weeks before I asked them to pay for the repairs.

natalie67

go find a life and thinking about his if he was that stupid to you. just leave him alone he's already dead, what are u getting from all this b.s your talking of the kid?

zodak

i didn't throw eggs or water ballons when i was a kid. do you know why? because i grew up in the bronx & you never know what kind of criminal you might run into.

he fell because he ran away from a guy with a knife. humpty dumpty should have known that would happen, so stop defending his stupidity.

nokillnobeepbeep

Can someone please make a valid argument proving that throwing eggs does indeed justify death? How many of you threw eggs and water balloons when you were kids? Give me a fucking break! You people are ARE COMPLETE AND RIDICULOUS DOUCHES! GO AND WIPE YOURSELVES FROM THE GENE POOL!

D blockz memory

DAViD DIAS WAS ONE OF MY CLOSET FRIENDS,I CONSIDER HIM MY BROTHER. ARE YALL SAVAGES,THROWING EGGS DOES NOT JUSTIFY DEATH. AND 2ND OFF HE DIDN'T THROW EGGS,THE PEOPLE HE WAS WITH THREW THEM,THE NEWS HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY SPEAK OF.BUT AS I WAS SAYING IMAGINR IF IT WAS YOUR FAMILY MEMBER,wOULD YOU CONSIDER THIS A FAIR PUNISHMENT?

D blockz memory

DAViD DIAS WAS ONE OF MY CLOSET FRIENDS,I CONSIDER HIM MY BROTHER. ARE YALL SAVAGES,THROWING EGGS DOES NOT JUSTIFY DEATH. AND 2ND OFF HE DIDN'T THROW EGGS,THE PEOPLE HE WAS WITH THREW THEM,THE NEWS HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY SPEAK OF.BUT AS I WAS SAYING IMAGINR IF IT WAS YOUR FAMILY MEMBER,wOULD YOU CONSIDER THIS A FAIR PUNISHMENT?

D blockz memory

DAViD DIAS WAS ONE OF MY CLOSET FRIENDS,I CONSIDER HIM MY BROTHER. ARE YALL SAVAGES,THROWING EGGS DOES NOT JUSTIFY DEATH. AND 2ND OFF HE DIDN'T THROW EGGS,THE PEOPLE HE WAS WITH THREW THEM,THE NEWS HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY SPEAK OF.BUT AS I WAS SAYING IMAGINR IF IT WAS YOUR FAMILY MEMBER,wOULD YOU CONSIDER THIS A FAIR PUNISHMENT?

killerasp

seriously..the kid was 19 years old...should he be in school during the day or something? at least when i was 18 and throwing water filled condoms balloons out my dorm window, i had the common sense of throwing them at parked cars and not aiming for people b/c that's just fucked up. worse case, i damaged someones car. what if the kid hit someone in the eye...isnt that assault? will their parents miss him? sure. Will the people that got hit with the eggs miss him? prolly not.

MFer

"...but bad choices dont make you a bad person..."

That's interesting. There's a moral lesson here. So exactly what makes you a bad person, if not bad choices?

So ok. He didn't deserve to die for throwing eggs. But he didn't die for that. He died for jumping off a building. Stupid move makes for a stupid person.

And so on his tombstone:

David Diaz, not a bad person, just a stupid one.

RIP

One other thing. Yes. God did it.

aquaj012789

Well this is coming from someone that knew David Diaz. I find it rude and disrespectful that people could say such cruel things. You didn't know him or what type of area he lived in or how he was raised. Yes he did make a bad choice but bad choices dont make you a bad person. David Diaz was one of the kindest, sweetest and nicest people that I knew. He would do anytihng for the people he loved and would go out his way to help a stranger. So I really think that people should think before they say ignorant things because in all honesty those comments are truly unnecessary. RIP David, you will always be in my heart and you will never be forgotten.

NannyState

I feel terrible for his mom and it was an awful thing that happened but what this boy did at 19, I once did at the age of 8 and I learned my lesson that day and never did anything like that again. What happened with this boy? Didn't his father take him by the back of the neck and teach him not to fool around if there's a chance someone could get hurt? Didn't his father teach him to avoid hanging out with other idiots who do stupid things like this? Didn't his father give one damn about this boy?

Barbj8

What about the knife guy? Maybe he had a fork and spoon in his pockets and just wanted some breakfast. Maybe he had the bacon.

natalie67

first of all God did not do that so don't try and dirty his name. How are u so sure it was God and not Satan? what David did was a mistake that others can learn from. Unless ur a robot, you've made stupid mistakes too and you learned from them (hopefully). now i never claimed to be all "hot on religion" because i may practice christianity but i am not perfect to even dirty that name by claiming to be it. i just was raised to believe that only God should make judgements and punishments. you people are sick and i can truly see how the world is coming to an end. see how ridiculous it is : a boy died and your happy about it.

lets see how good karma strikes you ppl, stupid mistakes may turn out as bad as this in ur families. a mother is in pain and all you people can do is celebrate his death? this is insane, its like most of you humans have no hearts to feel that deep pain a mother is feeling over a mistake her son committed.

Spirit of 76

most of you were probably young at one point but honestly if you cant remember trying to have fun then thats the reason you guys are being so stupid about this situation.

I would hope all of us were young at some point. That's how time and age usually works. Nevertheless, I had plenty of fun when I was young and still do, all without endangering other people, ruining their clothes or getting them angry. If you're so hot about being religious about this, remember two lessons of the Bible, namely doing unto others and reaping the whirlwind.

zodak

"remember, only God can make justice therefore none of you have been asked ur opinion on whether or not it was fair."

so true natalie67, which is why GOD killed him by making him fall & made sure he hit an air conditioner on the way down.

btw, i was raised not to throw eggs at people from a rooftop because that's not "fun" that's called "being an asshole."

natalie67

you people are completely disrespectful. who raised you people to think you have the right to decide whats justice? you people are sick and disgusting. may the Lord help you people because right now as you celebrate his death, there are tons of people crying for that one boy. most of you were probably young at one point but honestly if you cant remember trying to have fun then thats the reason you guys are being so stupid about this situation. if he made a mistake and he died then why are all u people(except for a few) being such asses?

remember, only God can make justice therefore none of you have been asked ur opinion on whether or not it was fair.