Driver's horror as man throws himself off 22nd floor of top Manhattan hotel - and lands on his SUV parked in street below

A man committed suicide after jumping 22 stories off a Manhattan hotel and landed on top of a parked SUV - with the driver still inside.
The man, identified as a 40-year-old from Coral Gables, Florida, hurtled from the sun deck of the Peninsula Hotel on Fifth Avenue near to 55th street and hit driver Engel Nicasio's vehicle's roof.
Encasio, 37, was enjoying his breakfast of coffee and a bagel when the tragedy occurred and was alerted to the impact when he heard a 'loud boom' and saw his car buckle under the pressure.

Scene: A picture of the mangled SUV after the 40-year-old threw himself from the sun deck of the Peninsula Hotel on Fifth Avenue

A man died after jumping from the 22nd floor of Fifth Avenue's luxury Peninsula Hotel

'I was inside the vehicle having a cup of coffee and a bagel. I had been standing outside the vehicle minutes earlier. I heard a big bang,' said Engel Nicasio to the New York Post.
'Hotel security came over and helped me out of the vehicle. I saw a man’s body. His body was separated at the waist. It was frightening, I can’t believe it happened.

 

'God was on my side, if someone had been sitting in the passenger side something really bad would have happened, the roof dent is very deep.'
The Cadillac Escalade was severely damaged by the the man's suicide and Encasio originally thought an industrial accident was to blame.

The 40-year-old man landed onto a Cadillac Escalade (not pictured) while the driver was still inside

'I thought it was a construction accident or debris from a building,' said Encasio to the New York Daily News.
'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.'
The victim jumped just before 9 a.m. from the midtown hotel which charges up to $4,000 a room.
He had apparently tried to check in just before his jump but was told that there were no rooms at the Peninsula.

The man died instantly and was reported to have behaved oddly before his suicidal leap

He handed the front desk his credit card anyway and made his way to the 22nd floor sun deck which was closed.
Once there he was stopped by a staff member who escorted him downstairs where he had breakfast.
The man ate pancakes and then ran back up to the 22nd floor, past the gym and spa and threw himself down onto the street.
He is not thought to have left a suicide note.