FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — An autopsy report released on Monday found that Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Dwayne Haskins legally drunk and had taken drugs. Before he hit and killed by a dump truck while walking on a Florida interstate last month.
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The Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office said Haskins’ blood alcohol level was 0.20. When he was hit and killed on April 9 just before dawn on Interstate 595 near Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. That’s 2.5 times the 0.08 limit in the state for driving.
After the autopsy report came out, Haskins’ widow, Kalabrya Haskins, asked for privacy and time in a statement released by her lawyer.
“On behalf of Dwayne’s wife, his family, and his memory, and on behalf of the truth, we respectfully ask and pray for privacy, patience, and for the public not to judge during this time while law enforcement officials continue to investigate and do their important work,” the statement said in part.
Universities say that Haskins, who weighed 230 pounds (104 kilograms), would have needed at least 10 drinks in the hours before his death to reach that level. He was also using the strong painkiller ketamine and its byproduct, norketamine. A doctor can prescribe the drug, but it can also be used for fun. The report doesn’t say why the former Ohio State University star had it in his system.
The report said that investigators found his car to be out of gas near where Haskins was hit. Witnesses said he was standing in the middle lane and waving cars down when a truck and an SUV hit him. The report said that a blow to the head killed him. There have been no charges.
The Steelers told the police that Haskins did not have any mental health problems and had never said he was going to kill himself. People said he sometimes drank a lot and smoked pot, but no one knew if he used any other drugs for fun. The death was ruled to be an accident by the medical examiner.
Haskins, 24 years old, had been training with some of his Steelers teammates in South Florida. The report said that Haskins had dinner with teammates and then went to a club with a friend or cousin, possibly Miami. They fought and went their separate ways.
Haskins had just told his wife, Kalabrya, back in Pittsburgh that he was out of gas when hit by lightning. She told the 911 operator that she worried because he wasn’t calling her back or answering her calls. After the dispatcher put her on hold to see if anything had reported. She could be heard praying on the recording. The dispatcher then told her to stay by her phone and someone would call her.
Haskins was a star at Ohio State in 2018. He set several school records for passing and named the game’s most valuable player (MVP). In the Big Ten Championship and the Rose Bowl, which the Buckeyes won against the Washington Huskies.
Washington picked Haskins in the first round of the NFL draft in 2019. But the team let him go after two seasons in which they went 3-10. Pittsburgh signed him to be a backup quarterback, but he didn’t play in any games last year.
The report said that Haskins should not have been in the road, and the investigation officer said that the dump truck driver did nothing to cause the accident. Haskins also hit by a second car that was driving next to the dump truck. This car tried to avoid him by changing lanes, but its right side undercarriage still hit him.
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