A man’s body was lying behind a large digital billboard in Times Square for nearly two days before he was discovered Thursday, police said.
The man, who was not immediately identified, appeared to have jumped off the balcony of a 42nd Street building, landing behind one of the digital billboards on a building that houses a movie theater, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, Madame Tussauds, and Modell’s Sporting Goods.
Police said it appeared he jumped on Tuesday. His body was found at 234 W. 42nd St. just before 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, police said.
The circumstances surrounding the man’s death were not immediately clear.
By the afternoon, dozens of people had gathered to gawk as police blocked 42nd Street to retrieve the body. Workers and tourists stared up the billboard’s scaffolding from across the street, some taking photos of the grisly New York City scene.
David Sanchez, a Bronx construction worker, was waiting with his wife to see the “The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies” at the AMC theater, which was locked.
“It’s crazy. I don’t know how people can do that,” said Sanchez, 37. “This is the heart of New York City. To see something like this go down, it’s shocking.”
Vehicular traffic was blocked on the busy Times Square stretch and large portion of the southbound sidewalk was taped off.
