LOS ANGELES (AP) – The parents of Bobby Brown Jr., son of singer Bobby Brown, said on Tuesday they want those responsible for his accidental overdose death to be held responsible, and prosecutors said they are considering criminal charges.
In an autopsy report released Monday, the Los Angeles County coroner said 28-year-old Brown Jr. died on Nov. 18 from the combined effects of cocaine, alcohol and the opioid fentanyl.
In a statement to The Associated Press, Brown Jr.’s parents emphasized and their attorney the fatal dose of fentanyl in his system and its frequent unexpected presence in the street versions of other drugs.
“My family continues to mourn my son’s death,” Bobby Brown said in the statement. “This epidemic is out of control and those who provide this deadly drug must be held responsible for the death and destruction it causes.”
Brown Jr.’s mother, Kim Ward, said he “associated himself with the wrong people.”
“My son is gone and those who contributed to his senseless death should be held accountable,” Ward said in the statement.
Police have presented prosecutors with a case related to the death that is under investigation for possible charges, Los Angeles County district attorney spokesman Greg Risling said Tuesday. He did not provide further details about the suspects or the circumstances.
According to on-site police interviews included in the autopsy report, Brown Jr. drank tequila, snorted cocaine and used what he thought was oxycodone before his girlfriend found him unconscious hours later on the bedroom floor of his Los Angeles home.
In many recent cases, prosecutors have charged drug dealers directly for the deaths of those to whom they have provided drugs, and not just for selling illegal drugs.
In the accidental overdose death of rapper Mac Miller in 2018 in a house just a few miles from the home where Brown Jr. died, federal prosecutors have accused three men of providing the drugs that caused his death, including pills that appeared to be oxycodone but contained fentanyl.
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