The cause of a woman’s fatal fall at a Stonehenge Partners-owned building on the Upper East Side was likely an aging balcony railing installed with decades-old technology, investigators told DNAinfo.
Ad executive Jennifer Rosoff fell to her death Thursday after leaning against the railing outside her 17th-floor condominium unit at 400 East 57th Street. As Rosoff leaned against it, her date reportedly warned her not to.
The aluminum railing was installed without welded rivets, and city engineers called to the scene immediately knew the welding was not up to current codes, sources told DNAinfo.
The city building code at the time, based on 1926 regulations, did not mandate weight-bearing requirements that would have addressed riveting, the type of metal used or how it must be fastened to the structure.
“There were clearly a failure of the rivets,” a law enforcement source explained to “On The Inside,” quoted by DNAinfo.
The property was upgraded in 1969 and again in 2008, but only new construction elements must follow the most up-to-date building code.
The building has changed owners several times since construction, and DNAinfo reported that it is not clear whether Stonehenge did any of the improvements. The company declined to comment to DNAinfo.
An investigation of the tragic incident is still under way. [DNAinfo] — Julie Strickland