A new autopsy report claims that wealthy Democratic Party donor Ed Buck waited 15 minutes to call paramedics after a second black man died in his apartment over the past 18 months.
According to the New York Daily News, Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner’s office revealed that an investigator’s narrative said Buck initially told authorities “he attempted CPR for 15 minutes before contacting 911.”
Seymour Amster is Buck’s attorney. He outright disputes the timeline recently supplied by the coroner’s office.
“We have a different scenario,” Amster told the outlet. “First of all, my client did not have a clock timing whether it was 15 minutes or not.”
According to Amster, Buck was taking a shower in another room when 55-year-old Timothy Dean allegedly fell unconsciousness at Buck’s Laurel Canyon apartment before dawn on January 7.
“He finds Timothy in a state of being unresponsive in the living room. He doesn’t wait to call 911. He calls, and as he’s on the phone, he’s getting instructions to perform CPR,” Amster told the Daily News.
Law&Crime earlier this week reported that Dean’s death was ruled an “accidental” overdose on methamphetamine.
On July 27, 2017, 26-year-old Gemmel Moore was discovered dead at Buck’s apartment. The coroner’s office also ruled that Moore’s untimely death was an overdose caused by methamphetamine.
Other incongruities in the coroner’s report are notable as well.
According to that report, Buck told investigators Dean was engaged in “bizarre behavior” just before his death and that he used a piece of clothing to fashion a noose and then placed it around his own neck.
“The witness relays that he removed the ‘noose’ and the decedent then stood up and began throwing clothes up in the air,” the report notes.
A search, however, turned up no such evidence of a noose.
“[N]o items of clothing that appeared to be fashioned like a noose” were observed by investigators on the scene, according to the report.
Buck also told investigators “he did not see the decedent taking any drugs and that they did not have sex,” per that same report.
According to OpenSecrets, Buck has donated tens of thousands of dollars to multiple Democratic Party candidates over the past few election cycles–including presidential contender Hillary Clinton. A longtime political activist, Buck also previously ran for elected office and has supported various progressive causes throughout the years.
Buck–via various statements to the press through Amster–has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in either man’s death.
Family members of the deceased men, for their part, aren’t buying it.
“Me personally, I demand a full investigation,” Dean’s sister Joyce Jackson told the Daily News. “I really think this man, Buck, was involved. I really believe he preyed on people. I think he’s sick. He really needs to get some help.”
Moore’s mother LaTisha Nixon recently filed a wrongful death lawsuit the 64-year-old Democratic Party stalwart has a “well-documented history of isolating black men for predatory sexual encounters.”
[image via screengrab/TV ONE]
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