Why dad threw boy from NY skyscraper

Published Dec 24, 2013

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New York - A father in a bitter custody battle threw his three-year-old son from a skyscraper before jumping to his own death.

Dmitriy Kanarikov, 35, had been ordered by a judge in New York to hand over his son Kirill to his estranged wife.

The little boy, who was wearing his Christmas pyjamas when he fell from a ledge on the roof of the 52-storey skyscraper, hit a sixth-floor landing before crashing down on to a next-door building.

He was alive when paramedics arrived at the scene but died minutes later in hospital.

His father, a systems analyst from Brooklyn, was found on a fourth-floor landing of the Midtown Medical Pavilion next door and died at the scene.

He was able to gain entry to the South Park Tower in central Manhattan because a friend lived there.

Kanarikov, a Ukrainian immigrant, had been due to hand his son to his estranged wife, Svetlana Bukharina, at a police station after a messy custody dispute. He left no suicide note.

Investigators believe Kirill was thrown or pushed from the skyscraper because he was found further from the roof deck than his father’s body. He had plunged straight down after jumping.

In September, Kanarikov wrote on his Facebook page: “I want to be the best Dad and husband. Nothing is more important to me right now.”

One witness said the boy was wearing Christmas pyjamas as he was wheeled away with paramedics battling to keep him alive.

“Being a parent of two kids, it’s just heartbreaking,” another onlooker said. - Daily Mail

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