Police to probe Jackson's drug history
Los Angeles’ police chief said today detectives investigating the death of Michael Jackson were looking at his prescription drug history and trying to talk to his numerous former doctors.
William Bratton told CNN that police were waiting for the coroner’s report before ruling out any possibilities in their “comprehensive and far-reaching” investigation into the sudden death of the 50-year-old King of Pop two weeks ago.
The coroner’s report will determine the cause of death and hinges on time-consuming toxicology tests, but detectives are already gathering evidence.
Mr Bratton said the Drug Enforcement Agency and the state attorney general’s office, which keeps a database of prescription drugs, were helping investigators.
Meanwhile, a city councillor called on Jackson’s concert promoter to pay some of the estimated $1.4m (€1m) cost of policing the memorial service at Los Angeles’ Staples Center.
Dennis Zine said the city’s taxpayers were “getting ripped off” because AEG, which is also the owner-operator of the Staples Centre, profited by charging the media up to $50,000 (€35,700) to use risers outside the venue.
But AEG Live president Tim Leiweke said Mr Zine was out of line for asking the organisation to pay for policing because it helped solicit donors for the Los Angeles Lakers’ NBA victory parade last month.
AEG Live said it paid for Tuesday’s memorial itself, along with the Jackson estate, but did not mention the cost of crowd control.
The parade and memorial both resulted in extraordinary costs to Los Angeles at a time when it is in debt for half of a billion dollars and facing employee redundancies.
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