At 16, during an episode of depression and psychosis, I was trusted with a whole box of Lorazepam. Being in the state I was, I took the whole box. I have only fleeting images and I woke up the next day on a PICU. The not remembering is especially hard since I have quite a vivid memory - I seem to have lost those memories forever now, though I'm not sure if I want to remember.
I was feeling as if nothing really matter, but this time literally, not in some "grand scheme of things" way. I had to push myself somehow to do things.
It could've been something else, but it coincided and stopped days after I started taking that medication.
From the medical examiner: "I received and reviewed the Toxicology Report. The findings do not change my opinion regarding the cause and manner of death."
I wouldn't call those incoherent - I'd call them distressed and angry at having been beaten up by the police. They say he hit his head on the cage separator - which is a classic cop write-up for after they've roughed you up.
I think all of the evidence points to the official story being true.
We can accept the outcome of this while in our minds leaving room for the idea that psych patients can be very difficult to deal with and they frequently and sadly do provoke abuse from the people we leave to look after them.
Think of it like resolving a dispute between two children, who socked who first etc. Sadly, that's what kids do and they lie about it, their statements are unreliable. Watching Judge Judy (!) gives good perspective on this, same sadly is true for adults, frequently both sides are lying, but outcomes that are just(-icey) enough can be determined
He also claimed that the police assaulted him at his own home, while reports indicate that he was not at his own home and was basically trying to break down the door, hence why the police were called. It seems likely he had a psychotic episode. This whole thing is tragic but I'm not sure it indicates abusive behavior from the police.
If you read the autopsy, specifically about the blunt force trauma, either he put up on hell of a fight, or they did indeed paste him.
I'm pretty sure if you care to check, you can get the police report for the second incident and go ask the relevant neighbors.
The likelihood that the police were waiting for Murdock to show up at his home so they could randomly attack him seems vanishingly low. Excessive force I could believe. Police with nothing better to do than randomly assault an upper-class white man repeatedly? Not as much.
Call me cynical, but I've passed the point where I assume that an american police report is anything but the most convenient story.
I'm well aware that most police departments only have a few bad apples. But the problem is instead of throwing the bad apples out, they are protected and left to rot the remaining bunch.
You can no more predict a heavy recreational benzo users's night than you can predict what someone will do blacked out on ambien or alcohol.
It totally impairs judgment, and people who are addicted can quickly escalate without realizing it.
This very well could have been an accidental suicide.
In any event we're all speculating. But I seriously doubt anything about this was accidental, even if the benzos were recreational. The drugs didn't kill him. The hanging did.
That said, you're quite right that the cocktail he had in his system disinhibited him to the point of no return.