Nicole John was the 17-year-old daughter of the U.S. ambassador to Thailand. She died this morning after falling from the 25th floor of a Manhattan high-rise, apparently because she climbed up on the ledge of a balcony at a very late-night party to take a photograph (a camera was found next to her body), and was too drunk to remember that when you do that you are liable to lose your balance and fall, and when you fall from 25 stories up in the air, you are probably going to die.
About 10 people were inside when Nicole John took off her shoes, climbed out of the window onto a ledge and plunged to her death, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.
A witness from an adjacent building saw John fall and called cops, Kelly said.
By the time officers arrived, the apartment had been completely cleaned up, he added.
Investigators found a small camera beside her body, leading them to believe that she climbed outside to take a picture.
John, who recently graduated from the International School in Bangkok, had a fake Brazilian ID, suggesting she was 23 or 24.
Sources said Ilan Nassimi, 25, who was hosting the late night party in his apartment, was charged with unlawful dealing with a child for handing out to booze to someone under the age of 21.
John had just recently graduated from the International School in Bangkok and was set to begin classes at Parsons School of Design this fall, according to her blog.
People do incredibly stupid things all the time, and terrible consequences can and do ensue. I know that. I know that it’s a human impulse to want to find causes and explanations for everything that happens in life. I know that this guy, Nassimi, is absolutely at fault (to put it mildly) for everything he allowed and encouraged Ms. John to do, knowing she was 17 and not 23 or 24 (if the implication in the article is true). I also know that John herself was old enough to know better. I have already asked myself where the hell her parents were, even though I also know that it’s wrong to assume they knew where she was and what she was doing, or perhaps more to the point that they should have known — I know, realistically, that my own daughter, a 20-year-old college senior, could, if she had been of this particular cast of character or personality, have gone to a club without my knowledge when she was 17. She never did stuff like that, not because I and her dad are such incredibly noble and responsible parents but because she is just not made that way — it’s not what interests her, what she enjoys doing, or who she is. I can’t take credit for that — or at least not the major part of the credit. But I’m still finding myself, right now, asking what the hell her parents were thinking. I wish I could stop doing that, because I know that “devastated” is certainly a mild word for what they must be feeling right now, and my heart really does go out to them.
That’s all I have to say. Obviously, this is not the kind of news story I usually write about, but I’m a mother, and this child was only three years younger than my child is now, so what can I say?
PAST CONTRIBUTOR.