A man stabbed outside a Bronx warehouse died on his 24th birthday after lingering in a coma for nearly three weeks, his family told the Daily News.
Mount Eden resident Jeffrey Jimenez Cruz was arguing with an unidentified adversary on Grinnell Place near Truxton St. in Hunts Point when his rival stabbed him in the chest around 2:55 a.m. on Nov. 24, cops said.
Medics rushed the victim to Lincoln Hospital in stable condition, but he lapsed into a coma and died on Dec. 13 — his birthday, the victim’s aunt said.
“He was in the hospital for 20 days,” said Luz Mendez, 45. “He never regained consciousness. He was trying to defend somebody when he was stabbed. He died on his 24th birthday.”
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined he died as a result of the stab wound he sustained, ruling his death a homicide.
Investigators told Jimenez Cruz’s family that the victim died while standing up for another person, his uncle said.
“Everybody who knew him, loved him,” said Alberto Castillo, 39. “He was stabbed defending someone else in a fight.”
Jimenez Cruz worked security for Target but recently passed the NYPD’s entrance exam and was preparing to enter the Police Academy after graduating from community college.
“He was about to graduate from Bronx Community College and join the Police Department,” Castillo said. “They had already accepted him. He passed the test. He was about to go to the academy.
“We are destroyed.”
