The 17-year-old daughter of the U.S. Ambassador to Thailand slipped off her shoes and climbed out onto a window ledge with a camera Friday at a Manhattan high-rise before plummeting more than 20 stories to her death, police said.
Police say they responded to the luxury apartment building on West 34th Street shortly after 4 a.m. after someone called in a report of an unconscious female.
They say the girl, identified as Nicole John, was found on a third-floor ledge of the building with severe trauma to the body.
Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene. John had apparently been attending a party at the swank Herald Towers, near the Empire State Building, when she tumbled to her death.
Ilan Nassimi, the man who lives in the apartment from which John fell, was arrested and charged with unlawfully dealing alcohol to a child. Investigators are also considering charging the 25-year-old with endangering the welfare of a minor, sources said. He was arraigned late Friday and released on his own recognizance. He is due back in court on Nov. 4.
Authorities responding to the 911 call saw indications of a post party clean-up in the apartment, and noted several people were still there.
The Herald Towers, built in the Beaux Arts style, has a 24-hour doorman and concierge, roof deck and a health club.
Cops are also looking into Tenjune, a nightclub in the Meatpacking District where authorities say John was partying before she headed back to the apartment near Herald Square. John had a fake ID from Brazil saying she was 23, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said at a news conference.
A Tenjune spokesperson said they carded John Thursday night and even have provided the NYPD of surveillance footage.
On her Tumblr blog -- which has pictures of her partying in clubs around the city and in the Hamptons -- John says that her ID was made in New York City and "it's really good, it's never been rejected."
John was an incoming freshman Parsons School of Design student and lived on 15th Street in the East Village.
Parsons said in a statement that the university's management team was working to provide comfort and support to those affected.
"Losing a member of the community is extremely difficult for students, faculty and staff just as we begin a new semester," the school said in a statement.
John's father, Eric John, was named U.S. Ambassador to Thailand three years ago, according to the State Department's website.
Kristin Kneedler, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok, said they were just getting details and had no immediate comment.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the John family during this very difficult time," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said. "We ask that you respect their privacy as they mourn the tragic loss of their daughter Nicole."
