Police spokesman Paul Browne says a dispatcher verifying the address appears to have accidentally searched a Brooklyn database instead of a Manhattan one.
Both boroughs have an Avenue C.
The Brooklyn ambulance crew realized quickly that they were in the wrong spot and a second truck was dispatched to the right apartment, but by then 18 minutes had elapsed.
By the time an ambulance arrived, they boy was dead. The cause was under investigation.
Authorities weren't sure if he could have been saved if help arrived sooner.
