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ATLANTIC CITY - A northern New Jersey man fell to his death early Sunday morning at The Pier at Caesars, the second man in two years to plunge from an escalator there.

The victim was James Vellanti, of Clinton, Hunterdon County, said a man who answered Vellanti's home telephone Sunday evening. He declined to give further information.

Karen MacDonald, spokeswoman for Taubman Centers Inc., which owns a majority of the Pier, said in an e-mail that the Atlantic City Police Department's investigation is in the early going. Police were called at 12:01 a.m. Sunday, Sgt. Angelo Maimone said.

"We are incredibly saddened by this event. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family," MacDonald said.

A LinkedIn.com profile bearing Vellanti's name and a public record of a political contribution in 2006 indicate Vellanti was chief operating officer for the hedge fund JNF Asset Management LLC in New York. LinkedIn.com also cites his attendance at West Chester University in Pennsylvania in the late 1980s.

Police on duty Sunday night lacked clearance to release details of the incident, though Maimone said no one else was hurt. It was not clear what medical attention Vellanti received.

On Aug. 9, 2008, Frank Gilbert Jr., 25, of Galloway Township, plunged about 40 feet off the moving escalator handrail on which witnesses said he sat.

Gilbert died of head injuries later that day in the AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic City.

E-mail Eric Scott Campbell:

ECampbell@pressofac.com

3 comments:

• suave64 (33) posts 4:20 pm

  Did they test his blood alcohol level? Don't they have security cameras in this $$$ shopping center? Hard to believe that a 25 year old guy just falls off an escalator? Pretty sad that this would happen again....Take out the damn escalators Taubman Centers!!! Wait a minute, I thought the Pier at Caesars was owned by Harrahs Entertainment? President of a Hedge Fund at 25 years of age is pretty amazing, even a religious fund, i.e. JNF.

• lespo988 (3) posts 12:06 am

  I was the one who put in the 911 call. He landed five feet away from me, right in front of me. I thought that someone had thrown their bag off the escalator at first until i realized what happened and it was absolutely surreal... He did not die right away, he regained consciousness after about 5 minutes only moving his eyes, however. from the substantial blood loss i could tell there was no way he was going to live... he came about five inches from smacking his head first into the information desk. I found out the circumstances that lead to him falling, but out of respect for the man and his family i will not disclose that. I work at the Phillips Seafood Restaurant and had just clocked out to go home and walked off the escalator in the lobby when he hit the ground. my email is Lesposito988@gmail.com. Overall it was quite a disturbing way to end a workday with seeing someone die in front of u. it truly is engraved into my memory and it plays over and over when i walk past the spot.

• WildwoodConfidential (4) posts 12:39 pm

  Hmm. JNF...the "private wealth manager" for the Jewish National Fund. http://support.jnf.org/site/PageServer?pagename=newyork_society_members Whoa.

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