The mother of a Staten Island teen who died after falling down the elevator shaft of an abandoned hospital is suing the city and the owner of the property, claiming their negligence caused her son’s death.
New York City and the owners of the former Staten Island Hospital knew that the deserted hospital on Castleton Ave. had become a dangerous playground for kids — and didn’t do anything to stop it, according to a lawsuit filed by Angela Castillo in Staten Island state court.
Castillo’s son Marcos died in 2015 after falling six stories down an elevator shaft while playing hide-and-go-seek in the ghostly brick building with his friends. The 16-year-old waited hours for help to arrive before being rushed to Richmond University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Marcos’ father declined a request for an interview, saying it would only make his grief-stricken wife cry. “I don’t want to see her again crying,” Jorge Rivera told The Post when reached by phone.
Castillo, who won control of her son’s estate in October, is seeking damages in an amount to be determined at trial.
Her lawsuit accuses the city and the hospital’s owner, Shore Holdings UK, of a “reckless disregard for the safety of others” by allowing the site to be a hazardous play area — and only taking measures to demolish it after tragedy struck.
They knew the abandoned site was in “a derelict, unguarded, hazardous, defective and unsafe condition,” and they knew that people, including kids, were getting in and running amuck, the lawsuit said.
City records show that the city received $31,0000 to demolish the rundown seven-story building on Oct. 13, 2015 — mere days after Castillo’s tragic death. Before that, the site was abandoned for decades amid failed attempts to turn it into high-priced condominiums.
“Why does it take a tragedy to take action?” Castillo’s lawyer, Tom Moore said, referring to delayed demolition. “After all these years of obvious dangers and hazards at this site, Marcos unnecessarily and avoidably lost his life and left his family grief stricken,” he said.
A lawyer for Shore Holdings, which bought the property for $10,000 in Jan. 2015 from Forkash Realty Corp., didn’t return a request for comment.
The city’s Law Department said it will review the complaint.