Michael Jackson hearing: Security guard says Dr. Conrad Murray told him to grab evidence before calling 911
In the moments after Michael Jackson stopped breathing, the singer’s doctor performed a one-handed version of CPR while Jackson was in bed and frantically grabbed evidence from the room before instructing a security guard to call 911, the guard testified Wednesday.
Alberto Alvarez, who was the first person to walk into Jackson’s bedroom after Dr. Conrad Murray realized his patient had stopped breathing, gave the dramatic testimony in the second day of the physician's preliminary hearing.
The proceedings in L.A. County Superior Court will determine whether there is enough evidence for Murray to be tried on involuntary manslaughter charges in connection with Jackson’s June 25, 2009, death. Several members of the Jackson family -– Janet, Rebbie, Randy, Katherine and LaToya Jackson -– were in the courtroom Wednesday.
Alvarez said that when he walked into the second-floor bedroom of Jackson’s Holmby Hills mansion, the pop singer was sprawled out on the bed with his eyes and mouth open, and Murray was administering chest compressions with one hand.
“I said, ‘Dr. Murray, what happened?’" Alvarez said. "'He had a bad reaction, he had a bad reaction,’ that’s all he said.”
Alvarez said Jackson’s children followed him into the room, and Jackson’s daughter, Paris, screamed “Daddy,” and started crying, Alvarez testified, choking up as he described the scene.
Murray told him to get the children out of the room, saying, "'Don’t let them see their father like this,'" Alvarez said. “I turned to the children and I told them, ‘Don’t worry children, we’ll take care of him, please go outside,’” he said.
After he escorted the children out of the room, Alvarez noticed the singer’s penis was out of his underwear and tubing was attached to it.
Deputy Dist. Atty. David Walgren asked Alvarez if he knew what a condom catheter was; he responded that he did not.
Murray then began grabbing a handful of medicine bottles and instructed Alvarez to put them in a bag, Alvarez testified. Alvarez said he grabbed a plastic bag from a chair and held it out as the doctor dropped the bottles inside, then put them in a brown canvas bag on the floor as Murray asked him to do.
Murray also instructed him to grab one of two bags from an IV stand next to Jackson’s bed and put it into another bag, Alvarez said. He noticed a “milk-like substance” at the bottom of the IV bag, he said. Jackson died from intoxication of propofol, a powerful surgical anesthetic.
It was then that Murray instructed him to call 911, Alvarez testified.
“After you had collected the bottles per Dr. Murray’s instructions, and after you had collected the bags per Dr. Murray’s instructions, did Dr. Murray instruct you to call 911?” Walgren said.
“Yes, sir,” Alvarez responded.
Walgren then played the 911 call from the morning of Jackson’s death. When Alvarez told the emergency operator that a 50-year-old man was on a bed, unconscious and not breathing, the operator instructed him to move the man to the floor to perform CPR.
When Alvarez told the operator that the man’s personal physician was there, the operator expressed surprise.
“Oh, you have a doctor there?” the operator said, adding that the doctor would be the “higher authority.”
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