Man dies in elevator shaft plunge at posh club

updated 5:59 a.m. ET Feb. 4, 2007

NEW YORK - A man died after falling down an elevator shaft during a dispute at a swank Manhattan nightclub once featured on the popular television show “Sex and the City,” police said.

Police early Sunday arrested Granville Adams, 43, and charged him with criminally negligent homicide in the death of Orlando Valle, 35.

Investigators said the two men fought early Saturday morning at BED New York, a club in the Chelsea neighborhood known for providing beds for its lounging patrons. It was once featured on the TV show “Sex and the City.”

Adams pushed Valle against sixth-floor elevator doors, which opened, causing Valle to fall into the shaft, police said. A message left at a Brooklyn telephone number listed for Adams was not immediately returned early Sunday.

Valle plummeted four floors before landing on top of the elevator car at the second floor of the converted warehouse space, police said. Valle, of the Bronx, was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead.

According to Valle’s younger sister, Luz, relatives and friends who had been at the club said he had been trying to intervene in a dispute and make peace, but instead became involved himself.

The elevator had previously passed all necessary inspections, said Kate Lindquist, a spokeswoman for the Buildings Department.

The impact of the men’s bodies popped an elevator door off its rollers, according to Rus Laiosa, an elevator inspector who was called into the club after the incident.

BED’s patrons can sip cocktails and don the club’s complimentary socks while looking out at the city from an outdoor deck.

Calls to BED went unanswered early Sunday.

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