Details are beginning to emerge surrounding the death of Vincent Jackson, the former NFL star who was found dead in a Florida hotel room on Monday.
Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister appeared on the “MJ Morning Show” on Tampa radio station Q105 Wednesday and discussed some of the key findings of the autopsy report. One of them was that Jackson was suffering from “chronic alcoholism.”
“Just tragic,” Chronister said. “We haven’t got the toxicology report back, so we can’t say with any certainty that that was it, but a lot of long-standing health conditions that contributed to his passing because of some alcohol abuse.”
“[The family believes] wholeheartedly that all of these actions are a result of what he suffered from while he played in the NFL.”
The Jackson family was not happy with the sheriff’s thoughts on the former Chargers and Buccaneers wideout.
“Sheriff Chronister does not speak on behalf of the Jackson family,” a Jackson family spokesperson told ESPN. “The full autopsy report will not be available for weeks. Our focus right now is on laying Vincent to rest.”
The sheriff said the autopsy report will be released Wednesday for the 38-year-old, and though he admitted it was “speculation,” he said he was told the former Tampa Bay Buccaneer was staying at the hotel in Brandon, Fla., because he was suffering from CTE — brain deterioration caused by repeated head trauma.
The Hillsborough County Medical Examiner’s Office said it could be even longer before a preliminary report comes out.
“The manner and cause of death are pending further study,” Hillsborough County Medical Examiner’s Office spokesperson Michelle Van Dyke told ESPN. “It could take up to several months for a formal autopsy report, depending on what tests need to be run.”
