Column: Questions about death at Mohegan Sun

Monday, June 29, 2009  

"State police have wrapped up an investigation into the death of a 44-year-old Bronx man who was found dead in his hotel room at the Mohegan Sun May 12, concluding, according to a department spokesman, that there was no sign of foul play and no criminal aspect to the case.

The official cause of death, released just recently by the Office of Chief Medical Examiner, after the completion of toxicology tests, was that he died of ethanolism, which a spokesperson for the medical examiner said is the same as alcoholism.

They would not release the results of the tests that would have shown just how much alcohol was in his system, because it's considered a private medical record.

A peculiar aspect to the case is that a casino wheelchair was found in his room.

Two questions about the case have been floating around the casino.

Could he have been so intoxicated that someone had to wheel him back to his room? And could the casino, which only recently toughened its policies over the serving of alcohol, after two fatal accidents linked to drinking by casino patrons, have over-served this particular hotel guest to the point of making him fatally sick?"

Get the Story:
David Collins: A Strange Death In A Casino Hotel Room (The New London Day 6/28)