Police said two other teens now face charges tied to trespassing and reckless endangerment.
NEW YORK CITY, NY — A 16-year-old Long Island boy who fell deep inside a maintenance shaft of the Queensboro Bridge this week remained hospitalized Thursday with brain injuries, as police said two other teens were charged in a case investigators linked to a risky social media stunt.
The fall and rescue, which drew a large response from firefighters and police officers, has put renewed focus on so-called urban exploration, a trend in which young people enter off-limits infrastructure to film videos and chase thrills. Officials said the boy spent hours inside the bridge structure before crews found him and pulled him out with ropes, harnesses and a rescue device designed for tight spaces. The investigation is continuing as authorities work to confirm who was with him, how the group got inside the bridge, and why the call for help came so late.
The teen, identified by his family as Frankie Allocca, fell about 50 feet on Monday, Feb. 16, after he and others entered part of the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, which connects Manhattan and Queens over the East River. His mother, Vanessa Tineo, said he was with a group of friends taking part in “urban exploration,” sometimes called “urbex,” when he slipped and plunged down a narrow shaft. “They left him there to die,” she said in a phone interview Thursday, adding that her son has been “in and out of consciousness” since the fall. She said doctors have told the family he should be able to walk again, though she said it will take time.
Police and fire officials described a complicated rescue in a confined space inside one of the bridge’s buttresses near Roosevelt Island. Firefighters searching the bridge found a shoe and blood near an open hatch, and a firefighter in a harness later located Allocca at the bottom of the shaft, officials said. FDNY Lt. Christopher Gaulrapp said the teen was in serious condition with major trauma. The opening was narrow, about 3 feet by 3 feet at most, and the access points were smaller, officials said, forcing crews to work slowly while monitoring the air and building anchor points for ropes. FDNY Deputy Chief Nicholas Corrado told reporters the effort required specialized high-angle equipment and careful coordination in a space that left little room to move.
Accounts from officials and the teen’s family point to a long stretch between the fall and the moment crews reached him. NYPD officials said someone contacted 911 around 5:45 p.m. Monday, and an 18-year-old woman, Adriana Vicente, said she made the call after receiving messages from teens who were with Allocca and did not know what to do. Vicente said the teens feared getting into trouble and told her they were scared about a possible severe outcome. “They were scared of getting a murder charge. I was like, ‘I’m going to call the police,’” she said. Authorities later dispatched first responders to the bridge and began searching tower by tower until the clues at the hatch helped narrow the location, officials said.
On Long Island, the Lynbrook Police Department said it received an anonymous call earlier in the afternoon warning that a juvenile might be hurt or need help, but the caller could not provide a location. Police said officers went to the teen’s home, where his mother said he was with friends. Lynbrook police said she later contacted the department after receiving a video that appeared to show her son trapped inside the bridge. Lynbrook Police Chief Brian Paladino said the teen fell inside what he described as a steel box-like shaft and then fell further after passing through an opening, leaving him with multiple injuries and hypothermia. Paladino said the teen was lucky to be alive, a view echoed by rescue officials who said the tight space and fall height created life-threatening conditions.
Investigators have not publicly detailed the exact route the teens used to enter the bridge structure or whether a hatch or access point had been left open. Police sources have said the incident appeared connected to a social media challenge, and officials have described it as an apparent stunt that went wrong. In the hours after the rescue, some local residents said they watched emergency lights crowd the span and wondered whether there had been a crash or other major incident. The Queensboro Bridge, long known for its towering steel trusses and heavy traffic, has also drawn attention in recent years because of repeated warnings about dangerous behavior on city infrastructure, including climbing and riding outside trains, acts that authorities say can turn deadly in seconds.
On Thursday and early Friday, police announced charges against two other teens tied to the incident, though neither was publicly identified because both are minors. Police said a 15-year-old was arrested and charged with criminal trespass. Authorities also said a second teen, 14, turned himself in Thursday and was being charged with reckless endangerment and trespassing. Officials did not say whether more arrests were expected, but they said the investigation remains ongoing, including work to review messages and videos and to interview witnesses and the teens involved. Prosecutors typically must weigh whether each person’s actions contributed to the delay in seeking help and whether any conduct rises beyond trespassing into more serious allegations.
The rescue itself depended on careful steps that are rarely seen by the public but are routine training for specialized fire units. Fire officials said they used ropes and harnesses to reach the teen and then placed him into a packaged rescue device used to move patients safely through tight openings. Firefighter Khalid Lee, who spoke about the search and the moment crews realized they had found the right hatch, described the intensity of the operation and the urgency once the blood and shoe were spotted. Officials said dozens of firefighters and EMS personnel responded, along with multiple pieces of equipment staged on the bridge roadway as crews worked inside the structure.
For the teen’s family, the case has become as much about the hours after the fall as the fall itself. Tineo said her son had mentioned urban exploration before, but she did not realize how serious it had become. She said he remains in the hospital as doctors monitor his recovery, and she wants accountability for anyone who left the scene without getting help. Vicente, who said she is not close with Allocca but knows people in the group, said she called because she believed someone was in immediate danger and the teens were panicking. Police have not said whether investigators believe the group tried to help before leaving or whether anyone attempted to call for help sooner.
As of Thursday night, Allocca remained under medical care while investigators continued to interview witnesses and review evidence, including digital messages and video shared among teens. Police said the case is active, and the next key milestone is a fuller accounting from investigators and prosecutors of how the group entered the bridge and how long the teen was inside the shaft before rescue crews reached him.
Author note: Last updated February 19, 2026.