Man jumps from New York’s Peninsula Hotel to his death

NEW YORK – A 40-year-old Florida man jumped off the roof of the luxury Peninsula Hotel into the streets of New York City on Thursday morning.

Police said his body hit the passenger side of a Cadillac Escalade parked across the street. The driver was still in the SUV drinking coffee but was unhurt, New York's Real Deal reported.

The apparent suicide occurred just before 9:00 am local time on East 55th street in the heart of Manhattan, according to the New York Daily News.

“When I looked up, I saw my whole passenger side was crushed in from above,” said the driver, Engel Nicasio, 37. “I thought it was a construction accident or debris from a building.”

“I was in shock,” he said. “I had never seen a body like that, it was horrible. I just stood there staring at it until someone pulled me away.”