According to the Daily News, an Australian diplomat fell from a seventh floor apartment balcony during a drunken “trust game,” and died from his injuries.
It happened about 1:30 a.m. last night at 19 Clinton St. (that’s the block just below East Houston Street). 30-year-old Julian Simpson landed on a second floor landing. Here’s more from the News:
Simpson, sources said, had encouraged a family friend to play the “trust game” with him. But before the friend could fully react the diplomat stood on the ledge of the terrace and leaned back. The friend later told police he was able to grab the diplomat but that he slipped from his grasp and fell to his death. Source said the death appears to be accidental. Simpson, his wife and friends had gone out for dinner and drinks and then returned to his apartment, where they had more drinks then went to the roof to look at the Empire State Building. The iconic skyscraper was lit up in rainbow colors to celebrate the passage of gay marriage legislation in Australia. While on the roof the diplomat grabbed the friend’s wife and took her to a higher landing and twirled her around. When everyone got back to the apartment, the wife’s husband confronted the diplomat, but he said he wasn’t trying to hurt or scare her. “I will prove that you can trust me,” he told the husband, according to police sources. “Let’s play the trust game.”
The Post reported that Simpson served as the second secretary to the United Nations for Australia.
