Parents call for charges in drug death of Bobby Brown Jr

FILE – Bobby Brown, left, and his son Bobby Brown Jr. appear at the BET Awards in Los Angeles on June 26, 2016. An autopsy report says that Brown Jr. died from the combined effects of alcohol, cocaine and the opioid fentanyl. The 28-year-old was found dead in his Los Angeles home in November 2020. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP, File)

by: ANDREW DALTON, Associated Press

Posted: Mar 23, 2021 / 05:41 PM EDT

Updated: Mar 23, 2021 / 05:41 PM EDT

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The parents of Bobby Brown Jr., son of singer Bobby Brown, said Tuesday that they want those responsible for his accidental overdose death 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 Nov. 18 from the combined effects of cocaine, alcohol and the opioid fentanyl.

In a statement to The Associated Press, Brown Jr.’s parents and their attorney emphasized 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 supplying this lethal drug should be held responsible for the death and destruction that 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 and it is under review for possible charges, Los Angeles County district attorney’s spokesman Greg Risling said Tuesday. He gave no further details on the suspects or the circumstances.

According to interviews with police at the scene included in the autopsy report, Brown Jr. had drank tequila, snorted cocaine and used what he believed was oxycodone before his girlfriend found him unconscious on the bedroom floor of his Los Angeles home hours later.

In many recent cases, prosecutors have charged drug dealers directly in the deaths of those they provided drugs to, not simply with selling illegal drugs.

In the 2018 accidental overdose death of rapper Mac Miller in a home just a few miles from the one where Brown Jr. died, federal prosecutors have charged three men with providing the drugs that caused his death, including pills that appeared to be oxycodone but contained fentanyl.

___

Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton