On June 1st Andrew Koppel, the son of TV news anchor Ted Koppel, was found dead in his New York apartment. His autopsy results were released today and it was revealed that Andrew died from a drug and alcohol overdose. In his system was found an insane combination of heroin, cocaine, generic Valium and other prescription pills, as well as a whole lot of liquor.
The story from People.com:
Koppel, who lived in Queens with his girlfriend and baby daughter, began a drinking binge around noon on May 31 at a bar in Hell’s Kitchen where he befriended Russell Wimberly, a 32-year-old waiter, according to reports.
The two drank all day and arrived together at Wimberly’s friend’s Washington Heights apartment late in the evening. “[Andrew] wasn’t even really walking. He wasn’t making sense,” the friend, Belinda Caban, told PEOPLE.
A few hours after putting him to bed, Wimberly and Caban discovered Koppel wasn’t breathing and called 911.
There are a lot of sad things about this story, but what stands out to me is that Koppel didn’t get that fucked up alone. Normally when we hear these stories it’s about someone who died while experimenting during a particularly dark time (Heath Ledger, DJ AM.) This guy went and found a bad influence friend at a bar in the middle of the day and now some little girl’s father is dead. I’m not saying that Wimberly was responsible for Koppel’s death, but there was no way that he was completely ignorant to his drug usage.
Hang out with good people who don’t let you do stuff like this, guys. It makes a huge difference.
“…there was no way he was completely ignorant of his drug usage”, really? Because no one was ever in the history of the world been smashed and not noticed another person eating a fistful of pills.
This is a really sad story, and I do agree that friends are major influences on our lives.
However, your take on it really doesn't make any sense. You say that they befriended (i.e., MET) on the 31st, got all f*cked up, and he was dead the next day. So… they knew each other for less than 24 hours? And you say this guy Wimberly was a 'friend' who has to have been aware of Andrew's drug usage although they had just met? I've met random people at parties and hung out with them for an evening without knowing anything about them or what they were on. If I spent the day drinking with someone I hardly knew and they got to the point where they could barely walk, I'd put them in bed and check back in a few hours as well. Until you have more details on the story, such insinuations about this guy Wimberly are unfounded.
No doubt a sad story, and I feel bad for his surviving family. However, the dude was 40 years old. If he hadn't figured out what's bad for him and what isn't by that time, all I can say is “stupid is as stupid does.”
I say the guy should be given a Darwin award.
“Hang out with good people who don't let you do stuff like this, guys.” Let you? LET you?!? Andrew was an adult. He's responsible for his own actions. Blaming the guy who lived — who had only just met Andrew, and who was also wasted — for not being his babysitter is ridiculous.
If that were my wife/girlfriend, I'd become an hero, too. Maybe something more glamorous like a shotgun mouthwash, just sayin'
uh yeah Sarah reported on this forever ago. She said all that shitty stuff and then apologized. Anyone? Anyone?
Does anyone else find this story just incredibly sad? Or would you all rather criticize Molls and people with substance addiction?
Seriously people, have a heart. To me, this story is way too sad to react to with criticism towards Molls or anyone else.