By Patrick Hedlund and Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Staff
MANHATTAN — A 21-year-old Ivy League student jumped to his death from the observation deck of the Empire State Building during the Tuesday evening rush, police said.
Yale University identified the man as Cameron Dabaghi of Austin, Texas.
"We are all deeply distressed by this news," Yale Dean Mary Miller wrote in an e-mail to students and faculty Wednesday morning.
Dabaghi fell 86 stories around 6:15 p.m., landing on the sidewalk on 34th Street near Fifth Avenue, police said.
"It sounded like an explosion," said Luis Mosquea, who was working at a retail store across the street at the time.
Mosquea said someone quickly covered the body with an umbrella.
“I don’t know if it was someone from the building or just someone passing by,” he added.
Police believed Dabaghi was able to get over the outdoor observation deck’s barriers because few people were there due to the rainy weather, the New York Post reported.
He landed in front of a Bank of America branch near the northeast entrance to the iconic building.
The assistant manager at the retail store Strawberry next to the bank said she heard a loud "bump." Customers at the store were afraid to go outside because they thought it was a gunshot.
More than 30 people have plunged to their deaths from the Empire State Building since it opened in 1931, according to reports.
A woman leapt from the 39th floor of the iconic skyscraper in January 2009, and a man jumped from the 69th floor in April 2007.
Jason Beck, 28, of Brooklyn told the Post he was walking with a friend when the man hit the pavement.
"My friend heard this really loud weird sound," he told the paper. "He turned around and saw someone splattered on the ground."
