Hasidic boy, 5, mourned after fatal fall from Brooklyn balcony
Published June 2, 2016
NEW YORK (JTA) — A 5-year-old haredi Orthodox boy in Brooklyn who died after falling from a fifth-floor balcony was laid to rest Thursday afternoon.
Funeral services were held in the Williamsburg section of the New York borough for Shimon Meisels a day after his fall over his apartment balcony’s railing.
Meisels fell at approximately 7:45 p.m. Wednesday and died after being rushed to Brooklyn Hospital. According to WABC-TV, the boy’s mother was in the apartment at the time of the incident and rushed to the balcony when she heard a commotion there.
Police are investigating the incident but no criminal behavior is suspected, the New York station reported.
Funeral services took place at the Shopron Shul, where Meisels’ grandfather is the longtime rabbi. The boy will be buried at a Hasidic cemetery in Monsey, New York.
Neighbors told the Daily News that the family had only recently moved into the building.
“The mother and father were very, very, very caring — more than the norm. Extremely caring,” next-door neighbor Sam Zupnick told the newspaper. “He was a very, very cute, beautiful kid.”