-
Michael Rothstein
SANTA ANA, Calif. — The ex-wife of former Los Angeles Angels communications employee Eric Kay testified Monday that the organization was aware of his drug abuse multiple times before Kay supplied the drugs that killed Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs in 2019.
Camela Kay testified in the wrongful death civil suit that she witnessed instances where team employees distributed non-prescription drugs to players, including once on a team plane where she described opioid pills being handed out. Her testimony was repeatedly interrupted with objections by team attorneys.
Camela Kay’s testimony refuted that of the first two witnesses of the trial — Eric Kay’s ex-boss Tim Mead, the former director of communications, and Angels traveling secretary Tom Taylor. Mead and Taylor both testified they were not aware of Kay’s drug use and whether or not he was providing drugs to players until after Skaggs’ accidental overdose death in a Texas hotel room in 2019.
Arizona Diamondbacks.
Angels attorney Todd Theodora said it was Skaggs who «decided to obtain the illicit pills and take the illicit drugs along with the alcohol the night he died.»
Camela Kay testified she continued to have concerns about her ex-husband’s substance abuse and that she shared those concerns with Mead and Taylor.
She also said she never saw improvement in Eric Kay, even after he was sent to outpatient therapy following the failed 2017 intervention. Camela Kay testified — backed by text messages shown in court — that she had multiple conversations with Angels benefits manager Cecilia Schneider to get her husband into an outpatient rehabilitation program in 2017.
She also testified she had been on the Angels’ plane in the past and that she observed conduct on the plane that caused her concern. When asked about the conduct, she said, «I had seen them passing out pills and drinking alcohol excessively.»
Asked plaintiff’s attorney Leah Graham: «When you say observed them, who is the them?»
«Players, clubbies,» Kay replied, indicating she believed she saw Xanax and Percocet being handed out. She later said she was kept away from players on the plane, «but you can see what’s going on behind you» and when she would go to the bathroom.
In 2013, Camela Kay said, both Mead and Taylor were present at the team hotel after Eric Kay had a panic attack at Yankees Stadium in New York. It was there, Camela Kay said, where Eric Kay told her he was taking five Vicodin per day. She testified both Taylor and Mead were there and heard the admission.
Camela Kay’s testimony continues Monday afternoon with more direct examination from Graham, followed by cross-examination from the defense.
