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9-Year-Old Fought As Teen Alleged Dragged Him To Roof And Threw Him Off
By
Ben Yakas
Published Feb 3, 2013
Modified Feb 3, 2013
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Feb 3, 2013
Modified Feb 3, 2013
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A 17-year-old has been arrested and accused of shoving a 9-year-old off the roof of their five-story building in the Bronx. Casmine Aska, 17, allegedly dragged Freddy Martin to the roof of their Nelson Avenue building in Morris Heights around 8:30 p.m. Friday. Neighbors told the News that Freddy tried to fight off Aska to no avail: “(Freddy) was screaming,” said one neighbor, who ran outside after she heard “a commotion” upstairs. “He was saying, ‘Stop!’”
That neighbor added that the echoes of “laughing and hooting” sounded like a group of kids horsing around in the hallway—when she looked, she saw two kids tussling, and assumed that's all it was. Freddy was transported to New York-Presbyterian Hospital where doctors placed him on life support; a source told the News that, “The kid told a cop, when they were going to the hospital, that he was thrown from the roof,” a source said. “The boy named the suspect.”
Freddy remains in critical condition today. “He had leg surgery, and at the same time, he was operated on his arm,” said his grandfather Juan Nunez. “He’s not doing so well,” Juan added. “We are holding out hope.” His grandmother, who was taking care of him at the time the incident happened, told the Post she thought he had gone to the corner store for soda: “He has problems. The boy has had problems ever since he was born,” she said, adding that he takes at least four different types of medication daily.
Aska, who cops say has four prior arrests for robbery, assault, harassment and menacing, initially denied having anything to do with the incident. But after interrogations, he told cops he went to the building’s roof and walked to the edge: “He said Freddy tried to grab him and in doing so fell from the roof,” a source told the News. He has been charged with attempted murder in the second degree.
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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