(L.A.) Richard Hernandez Diaz, 27, Died at a Residence

Case Number: 2023-02579

Los Angeles County is reporting the death of a 27-year-old male of Latin American ethnicity that occurred at a residence.

The coroner’s office has identified the man as Richard Hernandez Diaz.

Manner of Death: Accident

Cause of Death: Combined Effects of Cocaine and Ethanol

RIP RICHARD HERNANDEZ DIAZ (July 11, 1995 – March 7, 2023)

Formal pronouncement of death was made on Tuesday at 9:22 a.m.

Ruling by the deputy medical examiner was published on September 20/21, presumably after the results of tox screening had come back from the lab. This is considered an accidental, i.e., unintentional, substance overdose.

Cocaine is taken frequently together with ethanol and this combination produces a psychoactive metabolite called cocaethylene which has similar properties to the parent drug and may be more cardiotoxic. Cocaethylene has a longer half-life than cocaine, so that people who combine cocaine and ethanol may experience a longer-lasting, as well as more intense, psychoactive effect. Cocaethylene is the only known instance where a new psychoactive substance is formed entirely within the body.