NEW YORK – Tom Petty’s family says his death last year was due to an accidental drug overdose.
His wife and daughter released the results of Petty’s autopsy via a statement on his Facebook page Friday night. Dana and Adria Petty say they got the results from the coroner’s office earlier in the day that the overdose was caused due to a variety of medications.
“Our family sat together this morning with the medical examiner – coroner’s office — and we were informed of their final analysis that tom petty passed away due to an accidental drug overdose as a result of taking a variety of medications,” the statement reads.
“On the day he died he was informed his hip had graduated to a full-on break and it is our feeling that the pain was simply unbearable and was the cause for his over-use of medication.”
They say Petty suffered from emphysema, a fractured hip and knee problems that caused him pain but he was still committed to touring.
He had just wrapped up a tour a few days before he died in October at age 66.
*more to come