A police report from the
death of
Soundgarden singer
Chris Cornell provides some details about the last 90 minutes of his life. The report appears to back up, in part, what his widow, Vicky,
said this morning about the role that the prescription drug Ativan may have played in Cornell’s decision to take his own life.
According to
The Detroit News, Cornell was in his hotel suite by 11:30PM when his bodyguard, Martin Kristen, stopped by to help him fix his computer. Kristen also gave him two Ativan pills, which he took for anxiety issues. Five minutes later, Vicky spoke with Chris on the telephone, and she told police that he was slurring his words and that he may have taken “an extra Ativan or two.”
At 12:15AM, Vicky called Kristen’s room to ask him to check on Chris, She said that “he did not sound like he is okay,” adding that he was “groggy and just kept saying, ‘I am just tired,’ and hung up the phone.” Upon arriving, Kristen found the door to his room latched and phoned security to get them to open the door, but they refused on the grounds that the room was not registered to Kristen, even though he had a key.
Kristen then kicked the door down, as well as the door to the bedroom of the suite, and found him on the bathroom floor, “with blood running from his mouth and a red exercise band around (his) neck,” the report says. The hotel’s medic, Dawn Jones, arrived at 12:56AM, untied the band and attempted CPR, which was unsuccessful.
An EMS unit arrived on the scene shortly thereafter and was also unable to revive the singer. He was pronounced dead at 1:30AM.
A toxicology report will be able to determine the amount of Ativan Cornell had in his system at the time of his death. Suicidal thoughts are a
known side effect of Ativan.
From
The Detroit News:
Kirsten walked two doors down to Cornell’s suite, to which he had a key, but found the door latched, the report said. “(Kirsten) called security from hotel phone in hallway … stating he needs to get into (the) room to check on (the) victim,” the report said.
“Security stated they can not let him into the room because he is not registered to that room,” the report said. “At this time (Kirsten) kicked in the door with his feet and … went to the bedroom door and (the) latch had been engaged on this door also.
“(Kirsten) again called for security but could not gain access to (the) room,” the report said. “At this time (Kirsten) kicked in (the) bedroom door and found victim laying on the bathroom floor.”