For starters, the article we are commenting on itself.
”While hovering over Central Park, [the pilot] told them, the single-engine helicopter, an AS350 B2 model made by Airbus, suddenly lost power.”
And then of course the NTSB report [1]:
”[The pilot] then observed engine pressure and fuel pressure warning lights and believed he had experienced an engine failure. He lowered the collective pitch control to maintain rotor rpm and let the nose continue to turn to the right. Central Park came into view and he briefly considered landing there but thought there were "too many people.”"
That’s where I got my information, and I consider both of them to be fairly credible sources considering that both of them quote the pilot directly and one of them is the NTSB.
[1] https://app.ntsb.gov/pdfgenerator/ReportGeneratorFile.ashx?E...
It was over the river the entire time. It wasn't over Central Park, just far north enough to be near it. Trying to make it to Central Park from the river with no engine power could have had a worse outcome if he'd not been able to make it and ended up striking a building; then everyone on the copter would still be dead, including whoever was hit on land.