An apparently homeless man was found dead in a pile of snow in Central Park Thursday morning – a short distance from the park’s iconic carousel, cops and sources said.
The 58-year-old man was discovered lifeless around 10:50 a.m. when police responded to a 911 call at 63 Traverse Road and Center Drive, the NYPD said.
The man, whose name was not immediately released, was pronounced dead at the scene by responding EMS workers, cops said.
Photos from the scene show a white sheet and police tape blocking off the snow-covered area where the body was found – just days after a blizzard dumped a two–foot wintry coating on the iconic greenspace.
The man appeared to have been lying there for an extended period of time, according to the sources.
No criminality was immediately suspected in his death, the sources said.
The city’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will officially determine how he died, police said.
At the height of the blizzard – between midnight Sunday and 2 p.m. Monday – the NYPD made contact with 130 homeless people, 127 of whom refused to go into shelters, the department said at the time.
Only two accepted city services, police officials said.
While city outreach teams did not pull anyone off the streets against their will, NYPD officers involuntarily removed one person whom they deemed a risk to themselves, the department said.
In late January and early February, 19 people died outside as a historic deep freeze gripped the city – with 15 of the deaths confirmed to be cold-related, according to the medical examiner’s office.
“Hypothermia due to environmental exposure to cold” was the primary cause of death for the tragic New Yorkers, officials said.
