Paramedics found Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay unresponsive and struggling to breathe at his home last month during what the police report classified as a suspected overdose. Then the team released a statement Wednesday, saying the owner was currently recovering from a respiratory illness.
Records from Indiana's Carmel Police Department, obtained by multiple publications, state someone in Irsay's Carmel home called authorities around 4:30 a.m. on Dec. 8 after finding the 64-year-old unconscious on his bathroom floor, turning blue as he struggled to breathe.
Police said Irsay had been moved to his bed when they arrived, where he lay unresponsive with constricted pupils.
"Irsay was unconscious with abnormal breathing (agonal breathing), a weak pulse, and he was cold to the touch," a responding officer wrote in the report, per Fox59.
Attempts to wake him failed, according to the report, but it states he had a slight response when an officer gave him a dose of the opiate overdose reversal drug Narcan.
Police said they were prepared to shock Irsay's heart, but paramedics "took over lifesaving efforts" and transported him to a hospital.
The report, according to TMZ and Fox59, classified the emergency as an "overdose" and "overdose/poisoning," but it stated officials were unclear as to what Irsay had ingested before they arrived — noting a redacted list of prescriptions — to cause the incident.
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The beloved athlete spent two season with the Colts, making 10 appearances on the offensive line for the team.
Irsay was last seen eight days after the incident at the Colts' Dec. 16 home game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Last week, the team said Irsay was receiving "excellent care" for a "severe respiratory illness" that had caused him to cancel a show with his band, and the team's latest statement said he "continues to recover."
Irsay has been the NFL Colts' owner since his father died in 1997.
The league suspended him for six games and hit him with a $500,000 fine in September 2014 after he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor involving an incident when police stopped him for driving erratically. A search of his car revealed $29,000 in cash and a variety of prescription drugs, and his toxicology report showed he had multiple drugs in his system, leading to his arrest.
In recent years, he has been more open about his struggles with a painkiller addiction, which he has said began in 1995 after several surgeries left him in pain.
He told HBO Sports in November he had been to rehab "at least 15" times and shared a story of one overdose that nearly led to his death.
"All of a sudden, I start slurring my words, and then code blue, I stopped breathing," he said. "And they revive me, and the doctor goes, 'Jim, you're one lucky man because I had virtually signed the death certificate.'"
