NEW YORK — Andrew Koppel, the son of broadcasting legend Ted Koppel, died from a lethal dose of alcohol plus illegal and prescription drugs, the New York City medical examiner announced Friday.
Authorities said the 40-year-old died from acute intoxication due to the combined effects of alcohol, heroin, cocaine and the generic form of the painkiller Valium. His death was ruled an accident.
Koppel was declared dead in the early hours of June 1 after authorities found his body at a rundown apartment in the Washington Heights neighborhood. He reportedly began a drinking binge the day before at a bar in Hell’s Kitchen where he befriended a stranger, Russell Wimberly, a 32-year-old waiter.
"He had a straw hat on, and I had one on, and he said, ‘Nice hat, man,’ " Wimberly previously told the New York Post. "We got to talking, and he started buying me drinks."
Wimberly said Koppel, who lived in Queens with his girlfriend and baby daughter, was drinking straight whiskey as they went from bar to bar.
"There was a lot of alcohol. He didn’t take anything else [drugs] around me, and neither of us ate all day," he said. "We talked about our kids … He said he had a kid and loved [her] a lot."
Wimberly brought Koppel to the apartment around 11 p.m. and put him to bed. A few hours later, Wimberly and a woman who lives at the apartment, Belinda Caban, noticed Koppel had urinated and defecated in the bed and didn’t appear to be breathing so they called 911.
Koppel worked as an attorney for the city’s Housing Authority. He was the former ABC News anchor’s only son and third youngest of four children with wife, Grace Anne.
