Havana Marecheau

COMM 101
September 28, 2016
News Story No.2
A 27-year-old man from Arizona was arrested early Friday morning on the suspicion of
drug sales and immediately thereafter fell to his death from his 10th floor room at the Hartford
Hotel in Newport Beach.
The man had been staying at the hotel for about one week. Undercover officers from the
Newport Beach Police Department said they purchased 3 ounces of cocaine from John James
Johnson. They returned to his room around 1:15 a.m. to arrest him.
After handcuffing him, the investigators told him to sit in a chair. At first he complied
with investigators orders, but while the authorities were searching the hotel room, police said
Johnson jumped up. He was able to sprint through an opening in the sliding glass door onto the
balcony where he fell to his death around 1:30 a.m., police said.
Police say they didnt know if he intended to commit suicide or he just lost his balance
trying to escape.
Detective Bob Martinez said, The Momentum of the body and the speed of his run
carried his body to the balcony railing, where he lost his balance and tumbled over the railing.
An autopsy of the body will be performed next week.
Representatives from the Hartford Hotel had no comment on the death.