Daughter of ambassador falls to her death after drinking

A 17-YEAR-OLD girl whose father is the US ambassador to Thailand slipped off her shoes and stepped out on to the ledge of a Manhattan high-rise apartment with a camera before plummeting more than 20 storeys to her death, New York police said.

Nicole John fell at about 4.15am on Friday, apparently from the top floor of the 25-storey Herald Towers, police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

She was found on a third-floor ledge with severe injuries to her body after people across the street saw her fall.

Her death was believed to be an accident. John was reported to have been drinking, and 25-year-old Ilan Nassimi, who rents the apartment, was later arrested on charges of unlawful dealing with a minor, police said. John was due to start studying at Parsons The New School for Design and lived in Manhattan's East Village. She and others had been out earlier at a Manhattan club, leaving at about 2am to go to the apartment on West 34th Street near the Empire State Building, Kelly said.

Police believe the apartment may have been cleaned up by the time investigators arrived, but they think about a dozen people where there and had been drinking.

John had a fake ID from Brazil that gave her age as 23 or 24. The medical examiner was scheduled to perform a post-mortem examination and toxicology tests yesterday.

The girl's father, Eric John, was appointed America's ambassador to the Kingdom of Thailand in 2007.

A spokeswoman for the US embassy in the Thai capital, Bangkok, said it was just receiving details of the incident, and had no immediate comment.

Parsons said the university's management team was working to provide comfort and support to those affected by the death. "Losing a member of the community is extremely difficult for students, faculty and staff just as we begin a new semester," the school said.