Jon Medwick suicide: NYC cartoonist jumps to his suicide death from Chelsea residence despite girlfriend trying to grab him and pull him back to safety.
‘He slipped away…’ A NYC area based cartoonist jumped to his death from his 15th-floor Chelsea co-op Tuesday, despite his girlfriend’s desperate attempts to grab him and save his life.
Jon Medwick, a 62-year-old artist and cartoonist described by his girlfriend as being deeply depressed leapt to his death from his Chelsea apartment residence located at 300 West 23rd St.
The cartoonist’s 45-year-old girlfriend saw him at the window and tried to hold him back, with the un-named woman telling police, ‘he slipped away.’
‘very nice’ and ‘sociable’ guy
Police responded to a 911 call at the renovated pre-war building around 5:45 a.m the nypost reported.
‘When I saw the coroner pulled up, the body bag, the ambulance, I knew something happened,’ a resident at the condo said.
‘His apartment is at the back of the building. From what they were saying he jumped from his apartment window.’
Medwick, who lived in the building for more than a decade, served on its co-op’s board, was described by fellow residents as a ‘very nice’ and ‘sociable’ guy.
One-bedroom apartments in the building have gone for anywhere between $540,000 and $1.45 million according to Streeteasy.
Medwick’s Instagram account was replete with photos of the sun setting on Manhattan skylines that he apparently took from the high-rise apartment.
A regard of his Medwick’s Facebook page described him as a ‘New York-based storyboard artist for commercial or feature productions.’
He had been living with his girlfriend, who was visibly upset while being taken to the hospital after Medwick’s death, one source said.
Was taken to hospital two days before suicide death
It remained unclear what issues the artist may have been going through, whether the volatility of supporting oneself as an artist or mental health issues.
‘I did see the girlfriend. She looked distraught. She kept saying her legs were hurting … I don’t know if she was nervous. EMS took her,’ a source told the nypost.
His brother was also at the building Tuesday talking to detectives, according to the source.
Medwick had been living with his girlfriend since just before the COVID-19 pandemic and had a brother who would visit him, another source inside the co-op told the nypost.
‘He was a cartoonist. He did a picture for me. It was pretty nice,’ they said.
Medwick mainly worked from home, and sometimes clients commissioning his art would come to the building to get their pieces, the resident said.
‘Thank God it wasn’t in the front. I didn’t want to see him like that,’ they said.
‘I’d have been traumatized. That’s not a happy sight.’
Police said they did not believe the fall was suspicious.
One person in the building said an ambulance took Medwick to the hospital on Sunday and brought him back. It remained unclear why the man didn’t check in for surveillance and counseling.
If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts, you can dial the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention hotline at 988 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.
