September 1, 2010
NYPost- A suicidal man jumped to a seemingly certain death from a 40-story Upper West Side rooftop yesterday — but miraculously survived when he landed on a sports car, police said.
Tom Magill, 22, suffered just a broken leg, a shattered ankle and a collapsed lung after his 10:44 a.m. leap from atop the West End Towers on West End Avenue at 63rd Street.
“I can’t believe this. My car saved his life,” said Guy McCormack, 40, a worker at a nearby construction site who had borrowed the 2008 red Dodge Charger from his wife.
Magill fell more than 400 feet — and reached a maximum drop speed of about 126 mph — before crashing onto the roof and rear window of the vehicle, which was parked along the west side of the building.
Construction workers and the building’s superintendent witnessed Magill’s leap from the roof, and some residents told cops they saw him soaring past their windows.
Anthony Monteforte, a contractor who heard Magill slam into the muscle car, said “he looked like a pretzel. There was not much blood.”
Another construction worker heard a “huge thud.”
Remarkably, Magill was conscious when EMS arrived, and a police source said he “wasn’t likely” to die. He also did not suffer brain damage.
“It’s amazing. If he hit the pavement, it would’ve been worse,” said building tenant Kim Courtney.
Police said no suicide note was found. But Magill says on his Facebook page, “I hate my life.”
A friend, who last saw Magill Sunday, said, “I’d really hate to think he did it on purpose.”
Magill, who lives on West 52nd Street, used to rent an apartment in the West End Towers until graduating from Fordham University last year.
Residents said lobby security is lax, and guests are rarely required to sign a visitor’s log.
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Calls to management were not returned.
Magill, a La Guardia HS grad, is originally from Staten Island, where his parents, Thomas and Catherine, live.
An aspiring Broadway actor, Magill was a singer who, friends said, had recently starred in an off-off-Broadway performance of “Into the Woods.”
Magill, an English major, had hoped to get a job in publishing or writing, but was currently working in retail for DKNY and Club Monaco, friends said.
Additional reporting by Kelly Magee, Larry Celona and Kirsten Fleming