A Mexican-American teen who survived a gruesome racial assault in Texas and jumped to his death from a cruise ship more than a year later was under the influence of cocaine and marijuana when he died, according to toxicology reports.
The Galveston County Medical Examiner’s office had earlier ruled David Ritcheson’s July 1 death a suicide. Toxicology reports released Wednesday revealed drugs in his system and showed he tested negative for alcohol.
Ritcheson, 18, had gone on a cruise to Mexico with some friends on June 30 when early the next morning he climbed a tower on the ship and jumped into the Gulf of Mexico after attempts to talk him down failed.
Carlos Leon, Ritcheson’s lawyer and a family friend, said it is “not uncommon” for crime victims to turn to drugs. He said he was “disappointed, but not shocked” by the toxicology results.
Ritcheson was beaten unconscious and sodomized with a plastic pole by a teen shouting “White Power!” in April 2006 at a suburban Houston home as a group of teens partied, drank and took cocaine and Xanax.
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