An attorney jumped to his death onto scaffolding outside of a building near City Hall on Friday morning. Leonard Morton, 45, was declared dead after police found his body lying facedown on the scaffolding on Broadway near Barclay Street around 7:20 a.m. yesterday. Friends say that Morton was bipolar, and was suffering from depression due to a separation from his wife, as well as the death of both of his parents. "He was going through a terrible, terrible depression,” close friend Linda March told the News. "He was a very intelligent person and a very good lawyer."
"For the past week something was definitely wrong with him," Juan Diaz, a receptionist at the law firm where Morton worked, told the Post. "Usually he comes in and says hello and asks me how I’m doing. But for the past week he never said anything." Morton, who ran his own law practice in the building, was also an adjunct professor at Hunter College; he formerly served as an administrative law judge for the city and was also a captain in the New York Army National Guard Judge Advocate General Corps.
Morton was reportedly pulled into his depression when his mother, Deanna Morton, died in her sleep in November 2011; Morton's father died within the next year. Friends told the News that Morton was able to pull out of the depression last year, but went into a manic phase a few months ago, eventually separating from his wife of three years. "He could get very boisterous and very loud when he was in that stage," March said. "It was very hard for her to deal with that."
If someone you know exhibits warning signs of suicide: do not leave the person alone, remove any firearms, alcohol, drugs or sharp objects that could be used in a suicide attempt, and call the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or take the person to an emergency room or seek help from a medical or mental health professional.
