A clinical psychologist termed Tyler Skaggs a ‘high-functioning’ addict in the years prior to his 2019 overdose death, tracing a pattern of use that preceded the Los Angeles Angels pitcher’s fatal ingestion of an oxycodone pill laced with fentanyl.
Elie Anoun, an assistant professor at Columbia, testified on behalf of the Angels that Skaggs failed to address the totality of his opioid addiction when he decided to quit using Percocet without seeking clinical assistance in 2013.
Skaggs was traded from the Arizona Diamondbacks to the Angels in December 2013, and witnesses for the ballclub have aimed to paint a consistent pattern of Skaggs’ drug abuse. The family of the late pitcher is seeking $118 million in lost earnings and punitive damages from the team, arguing that the club knew or should have known that former communications director Eric Kay was providing opioids to Skaggs.
‘Not everyone with an addiction is going to be a homeless person under a bridge shooting heroin,’ Aoun said in court Wednesday, Dec. 10, according to the Orange County Register. ‘Many people with addictions are under the radar.’
Aoun termed Skaggs an ‘advanced drug user’ and that he depended on opioids to perform properly on the field, based on text messages and other evidence that has emerged in the criminal and civil trials. After Skaggs stopped using Percocet in 2013, Aoun testified that his loved ones did not sufficiently consider the gravity of his addiction.
‘Families are usually taking these things very seriously,’ Aoun testified, according to the Register.
The criminal and civil trials painted a culture of pill-sharing in the Angels clubhouse during Skaggs’ tenure, with multiple players testifying about their usage and conversations with Skaggs about how to acquire opioids – including through Kay.
‘He is bringing them into the drug-using world alongside him,’ Aoun said of Skaggs.
The Angels are scheduled to conclude their defense this week, with closing arguments and deliberations commencing Dec. 15.