On Wed., Feb. 11, officers responded to a 911 call of an individual floating face-up in the East River near 4 South St. by the F.D.R. Drive and Broad St. Upon arrival, officers discovered a 25-year-old male unconscious and unresponsive in the water.
The Police Department’s Harbor Unit responded and removed the individual from the water and took him to Pier 16 where EMS medics pronounced him DOA. The Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death.
The deceased was subsequently identified as Andreas Robbins, 25, of 521 E. 14th St. in Stuyvesant Town. He had been reported missing on Mon., Dec. 1.
In a Dec. 8 article, the New York Post reported that Robbins had been suffering from depression and had left a suicide note in his Stuy Town bedroom saying he was going to jump off the George Washington Bridge. He had left his home without his cell phone or bank card.
His father, Bruce Robbins, a Columbia University literature professor, was quoted back then as saying a police detective had told him they were too busy dealing with the Eric Garner protests and its impacts on traffic to search for his missing son. However, police subsequently said they were carrying out an active search, canvassing the area and using helicopter aviation units.
Andreas’s father told the Post that his son’s note said he wished for his savings to be given to an organization that fights depression and suicide and that he wanted his ashes strewn in the Mediterranean, which is where his mother, who is Greek, is from.
