Breakers partyer dies after fall from roof - San Francisco Chronicle

(05-20) 10:01 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- A 28-year-old man died after he fell off a fourth-story roof during a Bay to Breakers party Sunday, authorities said Monday.

The victim was David Hamzeh, who worked at the San Francisco online marketing company DemandForce, said spokeswoman Diane Carlini of Intuit, which owns the firm.

Hamzeh had been drinking at a party at 2040 Fell St. across from the Panhandle before he fell off the apartment building's roof around 3:30 p.m., police said. He died at San Francisco General Hospital.

Police said the fall was an accident.

Henry Hutchinson, who lives next door to the apartment building, said a few dozen people were at the party and that it wasn't a rowdy gathering.

"It was really mellow," he said. "I just think it was just the one wrong move."

Hutchinson said he had been sitting in his living room watching the revelry in the Panhandle when he noticed crowds react to Hamzeh's fall.

"I saw the thousands of people turn and stare and look and watch at what happened," Hutchinson said. "Then I came down and saw the man on the sidewalk."

It appeared he fell on his head, Hutchinson said.

Uartine Gentry, 70, was watching the crowd from his second-story apartment across the building's courtyard when he heard the fall.

"I heard the thwack and then everyone started screaming," Gentry said. "When I ran down there, he was laying there completely white, so we thought he was gone."

Gentry said partygoers were lounging on the sidewalk having a beer or two when he fell right on front of them.

"They were very upset," he said. "The guys were crying, the girls were crying."

Police arrived within two minutes and began administering CPR, fire officials said. Firefighters arrived one minute later.

Will Kane and Ellen Huet are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. E-mail: wkane@sfchronicle.com, ehuet@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @WillKane, @ellenhuet