Metro

Baby survives Harlem mother’s death leap

A distraught lawyer leaped to her death from an eighth-floor Harlem co-op while clutching her baby son yesterday — but the child amazingly survived the plunge when she landed on her back and he bounced off the body, police sources said.

Cindy Bacharach, 44 and son Keston, 10 months, hit the sidewalk on Bradhurst Avenue at about 3:30 p.m. outside The Sutton co-op building where she earlier had an argument with her husband, Hal, the sources said.

The mother died instantly, but Keston bounced off her chest and immediately began wailing and crawling around.

“I heard a scream,” said shaken witness Steven Dominguez, 18, who was walking in the area with his mother. “As she was falling down, she was coming down on her back. It was disturbing.”

Bacharach left behind a largely incoherent, seven-page suicide note assuming blame for Keston’s undisclosed medical troubles, the sources said.

Scrawled on both sides of seven pieces of composition book paper, the frenzied missive placed blame for Keston’s phantom physical ailments on herself. She also laments her bout with postpartum depression.

“I’m evil,” it read. “I love you so much and I’m evil for what I did.”

The note hinted at her suicide plans and referred to Keston having cerebral palsy despite his clean health.

Bacharach, who was on maternity leave from state Supreme Court, suffered from acute postpartum depression, the sources said. A medley of anti-psychotic drugs was found in her apartment.

Neighbors said they heard the victim arguing with her husband in the hours before her leap at The Sutton, where the couple purchased their apartment six years ago after winning a housing lottery.

“The husband just kept saying, ‘Why didn’t you pick up the phone? Why would you put me under that stress?’ ” said neighbor Christian Johnson. “They just had a baby. He was just starting to walk.”

Two cops who happened to be near the scene at 147th Street when Bacharach jumped were left stunned.

Keston was rushed to Harlem Hospital in stable condition, and is expected to survive.

“I’m so overwhelmed,” said the victim’s frantic mother-in-law, Barbara Bacharach. “It’s unbelievable.”

New York state courts spokesman David Bookstaver said Bacharach had worked in the court system since 1997 and assisted judges with various research projects.

“She was simply wonderful, very devoted to the courts, wonderful to everyone she worked with,” said a colleague. “It’s a tragedy.”