Archive for Thursday, September 8, 2005

Cause of death for man at Wakarausa Festival released

September 8, 2005

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A man found dead June 19 at a music festival at Clinton State Park died of a drug overdose, according to an autopsy released today.

Coroner Erik Mitchell reported that 29-year-old William J. Pospisil who witnesses said went by the nickname "Squirrel" and had no permanent home died from an overdose of methadone and cocaine while attending the Wakarusa Music & Camping Festival.

People who talked to an investigator at the scene described Pospisil as a "transient who traveled around to music festivals," according to a report. The witnesses said that the previous night, Pospisil had drunk alcohol and taken cocaine, methadone and the anti-anxiety drug Xanax.

They said he had seizures that night and stumbled to a place where he fell asleep for the evening. The next day, he was seen with his eyes open at one point but went to sleep and never woke up.

Video

A man found dead June 19 at a music festival at Clinton State Park died of a drug overdose, according to an autopsy released Thursday. Enlarge video

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  1. captain_poindexter (anonymous) says…

    nice work. jesus.

  2. shortstack (anonymous) says…

    yeah i was there and saw the whole thing, it was a disaster, people driving by yelling not knowing what was going on and the guy laying there for at least 20 minutes before anyone resembling a paramedic showed up. i think they could have saved him if they had an adequate amount of people trained to deal with weird situations

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  4. whatdoiknow (anonymous) says…

    Shortstack, If you were there and saw the whole thing, why didn't you do something?

  5. OldEnuf2BYurDad (anonymous) says…

    Geez, RA. What IS "right" about someone dying of a drug overdose? If I say "See, that's why we need to take a hard line on drugs", what would you say in response?

    YES, he's dead because of his choices. YES, this demonstrates why we need to take drugs seriously.

    Will you now reply by stating that that's "nonsense"? He mixed an illegal drug with two powerful prescription drugs and then washed it all down with a controlled substance. Will you come up with a rationalization about how this is "OK"?

  6. TheGardener (anonymous) says…

    Please don't make light of this tragedy. We all lose when somebody dies. There are reasons our society limits access to some medications. There are reasons our society makes some substances illegal. It is for our protection. However, there are those who maneuver around illegal and controlled substances and abuse themselves with them. People who abuse themselves with substances are people in pain. They often have chronic mental health problems and self-medicate in a desperate attempt to relieve their anguish. It is always tragic when vulnerable people are powerless to access the help they desperately need.

  7. captain_poindexter (anonymous) says…

    Reacharound is hilarious. hack.

    I am a conservative republican. guess what? I support legalizing pot.

    oooooohhhhh, aaaahhhhhh, oohoohsoshoshosido

    loser.

  8. rtwngr (anonymous) says…

    This is the Wakarusa festival.

    This is the Wakarusa festival on drugs.

    Sleep well.

  9. tonemarley23 (anonymous) says…

    This is Squirrels sister, just remember someone always has a family member. MY brother called me friday night, and said he had a seizure. I asked him if anyone was helping him, he sad yes, that he was going to the medical van. The story that was told to me on the phone, by someone who said they were with him the whole time said he was not doing drugs, and that they were walking around all of saturday. That he went to sleep in a tent with a family. This person said, that it was getting hot so they drug his lifeless body and propped him under a tree, probally away from the campsites. Said, that they were with him the whole time. Now, if he was not doing drugs, then maybe someone injectied him with something or well, maybe that person was lying, then they proceeded to say, that I have drug overdosed, and have been under for a long period of time. They didn't even try to help him is what they said.