(L.A.) Michael Flores, 55, Died From Drug Abuse
Case Number: 2023-16514
Los Angeles County is reporting the death of a 55-year-old White/Caucasian male that occurred in a hotel/motel.
The coroner’s office has identified the man as Michael Flores.
Manner of Death: Accident
Cause of Death: Effects of Fentanyl and Methamphetamine
Other Significant Conditions: Obesity, History of Asthma
RIP MICHAEL FLORES (September 21, 1968 – November 28, 2023)
Formal pronouncement of death was made on Tuesday at 2:12 p.m.
The Department of Medical Examiner publicly disclosed the COD ruling on January 16, presumably after the results of tox screening came back positive for the drugs. This is considered an accidental (unintentional) drug overdose.
According to an article in the Guardian, the decedent had been living in a tent on Aetna street but was placed in a motel room through a homelessness program. The risk of overdosing alone at a motel is apparently greater than at an encampment.
Flores had long struggled with addiction and mental health challenges. He participated in high school athletics, including wrestling and football, and his mother later worried those activities had damaged his brain. He frequently suffered severe headaches and back pain, and had delusional thoughts. He was in and out of homelessness most his life, battling alcoholism and unable to maintain steady office jobs.
He sometimes stayed with his mother, but it often didn’t last. He also struggled with the rules of shelter programs. She got him a van to sleep in, but it fell into disrepair. He found a community on Aetna Street, she said: “It was safer than other areas. They took care of each other.” She said he didn’t know he had used fentanyl, but added he may have done it to “numb his pain”, and he needed mental health treatment.