Autopsy reveals former UN General Assembly president John Ashe who died amid $1million corruption trial was killed by weightlifting barbell falling on his neck at his home gym

A former U.N. General Assembly president who was awaiting trial in a $1million bribery scandal died in a weightlifting accident when a barbell he was lifting from a bench dropped on his neck, an autopsy revealed. 


John Ashe (left with his wife, and right) was declared dead at his home on Wednesday afternoon by a paramedic who responded to his home in Dobbs Ferry, New York. He was 61. Dr. Kunjlata Ashar, Westchester County's medical examiner, said the cause of death - traumatic asphyxia - was determined during an autopsy. In a statement, the police department said the death appears accidental, but provided little information otherwise.