Passersby walk around 'homeless' mam who died on record shop steps

Customers said they were shocked that people were stepping around the man

New York City, where a man was found dead on the Upper West Side (Eric Thayer/Getty Images)

A man thought to be homeless was found dead lying face down on the steps of a record store in New York, after people who walked past him did not realised he was not moving.

The man, who was Hispanic, did not have any identification when he was found at around 9:20am on New York’s Upper West Side, according to police who said they were investigation whether he was homeless.

The record store owner said the man was found lying face down on the steps and was wearing shoes without laces, which were kept together by several pairs of socks.

Customers at Westsider Records were shocked that people were stepping around the man, FedEx worker Nini Lamount, 26, told the New York Daily News.

Hannibal Perez, 53, who works at the National Council of Jewish Women near the store, said he walked past the man without realising he was dead.

After a concerned member of the public flagged down an ambulance, the man was pronounced dead, according to the New York Fire Department.

An autopsy is being carried out to determine how the man died. A homelessness advocate who wanted to remain anonymous told the New York Daily News that the fact the man had been outside in bitterly cold weather may have played a part in his death.

New York’s Department of Homeless Services spokesman Chris Miller said: “We have a place for anyone who wants to come in from the freezing cold.” The city has procedures in place to protect homeless people when the mercury drops below freezing.