harrisonsdream
08-16-2007, 10:30 AM
Pipe-attack teen had drugs in system at suicide
By PAIGE HEWITT
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
David Ritcheson, the teen who jumped to his death from a cruise ship last month after surviving a brutal attack by white supremacists more than a year earlier, was under the influence of cocaine and marijuana, according to toxicology reports.
The one-time Klein Collins High School homecoming prince and football player tested negative for alcohol.
Toxicology reports in the death of Ritcheson, which earlier had been ruled a suicide, were released Wednesday by the Galveston County Medical Examiner, Dr. Stephen Pustilnik.
Carlos Leon, Ritcheson's lawyer and close family friend, said he was "disappointed, but not shocked."
"We can't forget he was an 18-year-old man," said Leon, who added it is "not uncommon" for crime victims to turn to drugs.
Leon said that Ritcheson's death was a result of drug use and the impact of all that he had been through — the attack, the more than 30 surgeries, lengthy hospitalization, extensive media coverage and being known as "the kid."
Leon said he thinks "drugs enhanced whatever internal demons" Ritcheson was struggling with.
Ritcheson jumped off a Carnival cruise ship July 1, after ship security tried to draw him away from an upper deck about 100 feet above the water. Ritcheson had gone with friends on a cruise to Mexico out of Galveston.
Last spring, the teen testified before Congress in support of hate crime legislation, as the survivor of a violent attack in April 2006, when two youths, shouting "White Power" attacked him with a pipe, burned him with cigarettes, kicked him in the head and carved part of a swastika into his chest. Ritcheson had no memory of the attack, but had been humiliated by the media coverage that referenced the sexual nature of the assault.
Leon said it was "mental torture" for Ritcheson to learn the details of the attack from media coverage. Earlier this year, in an interview with the Houston Chronicle, Ritcheson said the news coverage had been "humiliating."
Despite the change in Ritcheson's behavior, Leon said he believed the teen did not have a plan to commit suicide. He did not leave a suicide letter or note.
"David was doing a good job holding this in," Leon said.
Leon said he believed Ritcheson made the decision to jump in a manner of minutes.
"I think he had plenty of fight left," Leon said. "When you do drugs, you are at your deepest point. None of us can imagine what he went through."
By PAIGE HEWITT
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
David Ritcheson, the teen who jumped to his death from a cruise ship last month after surviving a brutal attack by white supremacists more than a year earlier, was under the influence of cocaine and marijuana, according to toxicology reports.
The one-time Klein Collins High School homecoming prince and football player tested negative for alcohol.
Toxicology reports in the death of Ritcheson, which earlier had been ruled a suicide, were released Wednesday by the Galveston County Medical Examiner, Dr. Stephen Pustilnik.
Carlos Leon, Ritcheson's lawyer and close family friend, said he was "disappointed, but not shocked."
"We can't forget he was an 18-year-old man," said Leon, who added it is "not uncommon" for crime victims to turn to drugs.
Leon said that Ritcheson's death was a result of drug use and the impact of all that he had been through — the attack, the more than 30 surgeries, lengthy hospitalization, extensive media coverage and being known as "the kid."
Leon said he thinks "drugs enhanced whatever internal demons" Ritcheson was struggling with.
Ritcheson jumped off a Carnival cruise ship July 1, after ship security tried to draw him away from an upper deck about 100 feet above the water. Ritcheson had gone with friends on a cruise to Mexico out of Galveston.
Last spring, the teen testified before Congress in support of hate crime legislation, as the survivor of a violent attack in April 2006, when two youths, shouting "White Power" attacked him with a pipe, burned him with cigarettes, kicked him in the head and carved part of a swastika into his chest. Ritcheson had no memory of the attack, but had been humiliated by the media coverage that referenced the sexual nature of the assault.
Leon said it was "mental torture" for Ritcheson to learn the details of the attack from media coverage. Earlier this year, in an interview with the Houston Chronicle, Ritcheson said the news coverage had been "humiliating."
Despite the change in Ritcheson's behavior, Leon said he believed the teen did not have a plan to commit suicide. He did not leave a suicide letter or note.
"David was doing a good job holding this in," Leon said.
Leon said he believed Ritcheson made the decision to jump in a manner of minutes.
"I think he had plenty of fight left," Leon said. "When you do drugs, you are at your deepest point. None of us can imagine what he went through."