Nightclub May Face Criminal Probe After 17-Year-Old's Death

After the 17-year-old daughter of the U.S. Ambassador to Thailand fell to her death from a Midtown building on Friday, attention has been on Tenjune, where she had been partying earlier. The Post reports that the Manhattan DA's office is opening up a criminal probe: "Investigators plan to interview owners, bartenders, cocktail waitresses and bouncers about how Nicole John, 17, was allowed entry to the hotspot with a bogus ID and what she did while inside the club on Little West 12th Street."

John, who had bragged about her fake ID that said she was 23 on her blog, met Ilan Nassini at the club, and he invited her and other club goers back to apartment, where she took her fatal fall. Last night at Tenjune, IDs were being checked, a "leggy 18-year-old aspiring [female] model" told the Daily News, "I always get in here with no ID, and it's no problem. This girl came here last night and got trashed and died - that's why they're being like this." But security wasn't that tight: "She - like several other teen club-hoppers - still managed to gain entry with an ID smuggled outside from a friend already in the club. She waited about 30 minutes before reaching the inner sanctum."

A photograph on John's blog (now removed from Tumblr) shows her at Tenjune holding a champagne flute in the VIP section. The Post's source says, "Potential criminal charges [for Tenjune] could range from a misdemeanor, serving alcohol to a minor, up to the more serious, although unlikely, felony charge of involuntary manslaughter." The club promoter who may have helped John get in is also under scrutiny.

As for John's fatal night, she went to Nassini's 25th floor Herald Square Towers apartment on West 34th Street, where there was more drinking. At some point, John opened a window and crawled onto a ledge, possibly to take a photograph; the teen's body was found on a third floor landing. Nassini, who was charged with serving alcohol to a minor and dealing to a minor, claims he had no idea that John was underage. His neighbors tell the News the luxury rental as having many partiers: "'Something like this was bound to happen,' said resident Kristen Donovan, who described seeing residents and guests having sex in the stairwells."

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By Jen Chung in News on August 29, 2010 12:26 PM

Comments [rss]

suepart

goodbye, beautiful pancake. no diplomatic immunity from the sidewalk...

TheKlaus

I didn't bother to read anyone else's comments, but am I the only person who absolutely could give two poops about the death of this princess? What was I doing when I was 17... oh yeah, I was working a shit ass part time job in small-town-massachusetts, could barely afford car insurance and had zero time or money to spend on fake IDs, clubs, booze, or drugs (come on, you know she was a drug ass). This broad had her life dangling in front of her face on a gold plated silver platter and absolutely blew it. RIP, brat. If I had nothing but money and leisure, I'm sure I'd be a pile of chum on an NYC balcony or rooftop too

Guest

fuck, now i have make up my fucked-up joke:

i'm sorry nicole, for what happened to you. maybe you were having fun or maybe you weren't. maybe you were covering up your life with booze or you were just in love with booze, i wouldn't know. hey btw, everyone thinks you're beautiful -- the media coverage on you has been insane. i believe that you're in a much better place now, somewhere where you can do everything your heart desires. just not on this earth (at this time).

freddynyc

The world has lost a future partygoing whore - what a shame...

wow 14th street

I think a lot of party kids now will move

to this huge building ,might keep an ambulance nearby.

Ph

Look at the bright side. The fall saved her from being bent over a pool table by three guys at once.

Its the little things...

..Ok, I'm going to hell.

Guest

then i'm going some place lower than you:

just add "or more" after by three guys and "for 30 years or possibly more" after at once.

at least i didn't have to write the whole thing, thank to you.

to satanists: what's lower than hell? thanks in advance.

Guest

*thanks

see, my hands were shaking before i posted this. it still is. i won't do this again. hah.

EllenR2

The police should be questioning the parents who were not supervising their 17 year old daughter, not going after the nightclub and Nassini.

showtime

Are you a poor jealous moron and GED recipient or just plain stupid: The girl was living at her dorm and was a University student so how are the parents supposed to watch her anymore than any other student who's not living at home? Then again you never went to college so you wouldn'nt know as you lived with Mommie and Daddy till you were 36!

potsmoker

prob they could have checked just as easily as all the media, by looking up her twitter and facebook accounts,

im sure someone at the state depart or foreign service officers dept or whatever thay call their diplomatic dept has a job looking into the family and repuation of their officers. sorry we missed the chance to read her bushwick ghetto bang bus tweets.

does she have a sister, ill be happy to probe her if shes 17+.

John L

This is a tragedy but if they go after anybody it should be whoever is making these fake IDs for these kids.

All in all, I blame Jersey Shore. Irresponsible ignorance has become the new norm. Being stupid and wasted is the new cool.

BettyDavis

It's not a tragedy because she was leading an empty, useless life.It would have been a tragedy if her life was ever going to positively affect the planet.It wasn't.

If they go after anybody it should be the parents,not the ID makers and not the club owners/employees.

John L

Are you serious?

You must've been an amazing 17 year old.

But she was like most typical 17 year olds, some are worst than others.

Most go through a phase like this, don't fall out of windows and become responsible, productive adults.

BettyDavis

Sorry,but I have to disagree again.I'm a teacher.I spend my whole life around kids.Most do not go through a phase like this at all.Can't believe you even think that. Some do,yes,but most? No.

Read her blog.She was completely and totally out of control.

The only adults she was going to grow up like are Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan.

ANGRYGOD11

Ouch.

Some of the most trustworthy and responsible people I know went through a wild phase before straightening out.

I feel sorry for any of your students who don't meet your standards and therefore deserve your ever-lasting damnation.

John L

That's a huge assumption and we'll never know the answer anyway.

As far as I know Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan never went to college, this girl was about to start college. I refuse to believe that at 17 a person cannot change their ways. In fact I'll argue that most teenagers, even rebellious ones do change.

I'm sorry that you feel the way you do but I still see this has a tragedy. A misguided young girl who as a result died far to young without a chance to become an adult.

As a teacher I can't believe that you're ready to write off kids and would almost applaud their deaths at 17 years old if they weren't model citizens or up to your standards.

Guest

holy shit you're a teacher?!? omfg

ANGRYGOD11

You are asking a lot from a 17-year-old kid. Not many such people are really positively affecting the planet.

ANGRYGOD11

Maybe it wasn't in a hip nightclub, but didn't most of you people do some underage partying? So knock off the poor little rich girl judgments.