EAST NEW YORK, NY — A 2-year-old boy died after falling six stories Monday morning from an East New York building plagued with safety violations from the city's building departments, according to police.

Lareese Williams Jr. fell from an apartment building at 760 Eldert Lane and dropped onto the pavement below, near Blake Avenue, just after 11 a.m., police said. Emergency responders found Lareese lying unconscious and rushed the critically injured little boy to Brookdale Hospital where he later died, according to police.

Lareese's fall baffled his neighbors who mourned the little boy's death. "I don't think a 2-year-old could fit through that," said building resident Courtney Harris. "They're really close together."

"I think the baby ain't know what was going on," said Michael Rivera, who lives on the same floor. "Baby don't know what's going on, what's happening," Michael Thomas, a community advocate whose sister lives in the building, said, "It's just heartbreaking... My heart and my prayers go out to the family."

Hacelie McFarland, who has lived in the building for more than 20 years, added, "To hear something like this is very hard."



The building where Lareese once lived has an outstanding Department of Buildings violation for failure to maintain the building facade and a "cracked, spalling balcony slab" on multiple floors.

It's also got 113 violations — 14 immediately hazardous — with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development for multiple rodent infestation reports as well as fire damage in a sixth-floor apartment and a defective window guard on the 14th floor, according to HPD records. The building is part of the Linden Plaza building complex, which City Limits reported in 2015 has seen rents spike since its Mitchell-Lama units were refinanced.