The family of late Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs is suing the team and two former team employees nearly two years after the pitcher died of an overdose in his hotel room while on a road trip, alleging that an executive from the Angels were supplying drugs to several players.
Skaggs’s widow, Carli, filed in Fort Worth, Texas, in the same county where Skaggs died, while Skaggs’ parents, Darrell Skaggs and Debbie Hetman, filed in Los Angeles. The lawsuits don’t specify how much money Skaggs is seeking. family.
“The Angels owed Tyler Skaggs a duty to provide a safe place to work and play baseball,” the lawsuit says. for him Los Angeles TimesNathan Fenno. “The Angels failed in their duty when they allowed [former communications director Eric Kay], drug addict, full access to Tyler. The Angels also failed in their duty when they allowed Kay to supply Tyler with dangerous illegal drugs. The Angels should have known that Kay was selling drugs to players. Tyler died as a result of the Angels’ breach of duty. “
The lawsuit also names Kay and former vice president of communications Tim Mead as defendants and charges the team with wrongful death and negligence.
Skaggs, 27, was found dead in his hotel room in Southlake, Texas, on July 1, 2019, just hours before the Angels played the Rangers.
A toxicology report revealed that he had fentanyl, oxycodone, and alcohol in his system. While under the influence of the three substances, Skaggs choked on his vomit and died.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office listed the cause of death as a mixture of “alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone poisoning with terminal aspiration of gastric contents.”
Last October, a Texas federal grand jury indicted Kay on two counts in the Skaggs overdose death. The prosecution charged Kay with distributing the fentanyl that caused Skaggs’ death in 2019.
He has pleaded not guilty and his trial is scheduled for mid-August.
Mead worked for the Angels for 40 years before leaving the team in June 2019. He is accused of being “negligent in numerous ways,” including the “obligation to stop Kay’s interaction with players once he found out or should. having learned that Kay was providing dangerous illegal drugs to players, including Tyler. “
In 2019, he denied to ESPN that he ever heard that Skaggs was using drugs.
“I’ve had a lot of conversations with Eric Kay about a lot of things, but opioids and Tyler Skaggs weren’t one of them,” Mead. he told ESPN.
The Angels selected Skaggs as the 40th pick in the first round of the 2009 MLB draft. He was 28-38 with a 4.41 ERA in seven major league seasons.
“Unsurprisingly, the decision to file these complaints has been a very difficult one for Tyler’s parents and his wife,” Rusty Hardin, the Skaggs family attorney, said in a statement. “Nothing will ease the pain and anguish of losing their only child and, for Carli, her husband and soulmate. But they want to get to the bottom of the circumstances surrounding Tyler’s tragic, premature, and completely avoidable death, and retain the individuals and entities, including Angels, responsible for the actions that contributed to it. “
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Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.