Woman killed after 17-storey balcony fall on first date

A 35-year-old woman on a first date plunged to her death when the railing on her 17th-floor balcony gave way, police in New York City said.

Jennifer Rosoff had gone outside for a cigarette at around 12.50am local time when she either sat on the railing or leaned on it. Her date told her that she probably should not do so, but moments later she fell and landed on construction scaffolding on the first floor, authorities said.

Police spoke to the man and cleared him of any possible wrongdoing.

Emergency crews pronounced Ms Rosoff dead at the scene.

The medical examiner will determine a cause of death.

The grey brick high-rise building in Manhattan’s Upper East Side was built before the Second World War. Only the higher-floor corner apartments have balconies, and the city’s buildings department issued a partial vacate order for them.

A photo of the corner balcony of the apartment where Ms Rosoff lived showed the top two metal railings bent down in a V-shape. Buildings officials took part of the broken railing to examine how it could have given way and plan to determine whether the other balconies are structurally sound.