KEY POINTS:
A grieving father has told how his son's friends tried to save the teenager from a fatal fall from a 4m-high balcony.
Michael James Atkinson, 17, of Birkdale on Auckland's North Shore, was drinking with friends at a house in nearby Torbay when he fell from a deck on to a concrete driveway.
His dad, Sonny Gage, told the Herald on Sunday he and Michael's mother, Geraldine Atkinson, made the agonising decision to switch off his life-support machine two days later.
A well-placed source indicated that the deck's balustrade was below the legal height, but the North Shore City Council said it had yet to receive a complaint.
Sonny believed Michael was playing video games and drinking with three friends when he fell to his death on October 28.
"I know a few friends tried to save him. They grabbed his jeans and the jeans came off."
One of the owners of the house where Michael fell told the Herald on Sunday they were "trying to cope" and were sorry the incident had happened.
Investigating officer Sergeant Kim Libby would not comment on the height of the balustrade, saying all information had been reported to the coroner. He confirmed there would be no further criminal investigation and charges were unlikely.
Following the accident, Michael was taken to Auckland City Hospital.
Sonny and Geraldine decided to turn off his life-support machine at 10am on Thursday, October 30.
"We both love Michael very much," said Gage. "I miss him a lot.
"We never parted, or left each other, or finished a phone call without saying, `I love you' to each other."
He said Michael had many friends and loved music, sports and social networking websites.
Michael's mother Geraldine was too distraught to talk, but told the Herald on Sunday he was "forever in our hearts".
Close family friend Cathy Turner described Michael as a "lovely boy" who had the "biggest heart that you would ever meet. His manners put everyone else to shame."
She said his friends who watched him die were coping "remarkably well" and had continued to support each other after Michael's tangi.
"There's a lot of, I would say, probably guilt, which is completely misplaced because it was an accident," Cathy said.
"They felt awful. They're hanging in together... it's really quite a shocking thing for them to have to go through."
Allowing Michael's friends to spend time with him at the hospital and be part of the tangi had helped with their grieving.
"Geraldine and Sonny were so welcoming of those children at the hospital. Other parents would have wanted privacy but they involved those kids in every way."
Gage said he didn't want to know the details of Michael's death but his son was friendly, polite and loving.
"Michael was at a time in his life where he made decisions for his life and no one was going to tell him otherwise," Gage said. "He didn't do things without his friends. He lived for his friends. He was being a teenager."
Gage said Michael came close to death three months ago when he ended up on life support in North Shore Hospital after a party drug overdose.
"The doctors said when they withdrew his life support he would live or die. He lived. Some survive their teenage years and some don't."
