Body Found Near South End Of Central Park

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A body was found near the south end of Central Park Thursday afternoon, officials said.

Around 1:44 p.m., the FDNY EMS was called to the park across from 220 Central Park South, just east of Columbus Circle, where the man's body was found, officials told CBS2.

Police said the 69-year-old man's body was found under a tree. The man appeared to be homeless, but it was not certain if he was, police said.

"It's quite sad and disturbing, and something you don't come across every day," said visitor Travis Reid of Australia.

A nearby pedicab driver called 911 when he noticed the body along the wall that runs along the south end of Central Park, CBS2's Valerie Castro reported.

Another pedicab driver said he was there when the Parks Department arrived on the scene.

"We just saw him lying down down there. There were a lot of flies around the face," said pedicab driver Moussa Fall. "He looked like homeless, but he was so skinny when I saw him down there."

Fall said he often sees homeless people sleeping in the area of the park where the man was found, but he had not seen that particular man before.

Fall said there did not appear to be any trauma to the man's body. Police said the man's death is not believed to be suspicious.

Many tourists stopped to wonder about the police activity in the area. For some, it was hardly a shock.

"I don't want to say it's normal, but I think that people have died here before," said Lee Agostini, who was visiting from Philadelphia. "Plus it's New York City. Anything can happen in the city."

But others were simply saddened.

"Obviously, it's very sad to see it happening in Central Park in a beautiful city," said Medhi Shahpar, who is visiting from Las Vegas. "It always makes you feel bad to see these things happen, especially if it is a homeless person that died here, God knows from an illness or somebody maybe attacked him or something."

"It's quite sad you know, in such a spectacular park and such a park of New York," added Reid. "It's really sad to see -- someone like that being taken out, you know, not with us anymore."

At the scene, crime scene tape was found wrapped around a few trees – cordoning off a grassy area. The remained at the scene under a white sheet as of the late afternoon, and the NYPD and Department of Parks and Recreation officers remained at the scene.

Office of Emergency Management crews were later seen wheeling the body through Columbus Circle on a gurney.

The New York City Medical Examiner's office will determine the man's cause and manner of death.

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