‘s traumatic death has traumatized an eyewitness staying at the same hotel as the One Direction singer.
Brett Watson, who was a guest at the CasaSur Palermo hotel in Buenos Aires, recalled seeing Payne’s fall from a balcony in a clip from the Monday, December 16, documentary TMZ Investigates: Liam Payne: Who’s to Blame?
“I was meeting our wedding planner. We had gone up to the room and happened to be looking out of the window of our hotel,” Watson recalled. “We saw Liam fall.”
Watson said his room was on the first floor, adding, “We immediately rushed out on the balcony to see what it was and when we looked down we could see it was Liam lying on the ground. He landed face up so we could tell right away it was him and he was motionless.”
The eyewitness was visibly upset while recalling details from the incident.
“I don’t have a medical background but from what I saw it looked like he passed away on impact. Time stopped or slowed down immediately,” Watson continued. “Seeing anyone just fall like that is heartbreaking but being able to see it happen and hear the impact on the ground which was more haunting than seeing him fall.”
He concluded: “Then seeing the immediate aftermath is something that is burned into my brain and I will never forget and I am still working through processing and understanding everything we saw.”
Us Weekly confirmed in October that Payne died after falling from the third floor of his Argentina hotel. He was 31. The Buenos Aires City Police were dispatched to CasaSur Palermo Hotel earlier that day, where Payne was staying. According to the official police report, officers were acting on a call reporting an “aggressive man who may have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol.”
“At 5:04 p.m., through 911 and the integrated public security system, we were alerted about a person in the internal courtyard of the CasaSur hotel,” the SAME (Emergency Medical Assistance System) director Alberto Crescenti said in a TV interview via La Nacion. “Unfortunately, he had injuries incompatible with life due to the fall, so we had to confirm the death. There was no possibility of resuscitation.”
The musician’s preliminary autopsy report stated that he died from multiple injuries involving “internal and external hemorrhage” and suffered “multiple traumas” that contributed to his death. It was later reported by ABC News that a partial autopsy revealed Payne had “pink cocaine” — a recreational drug that typically mixes methamphetamine, ketamine and MDMA — as well as cocaine, benzodiazepine and crack in his system at the time.
In November, the prosecutor’s office announced that three individuals were charged with abandonment leading to death and the supply and facilitation of narcotics in connection to Payne’s passing.
“The first defendant, a companion of the artist during his stay in Buenos Aires, has been charged with abandonment leading to death — a crime under Article 106 of the Criminal Code, punishable by five to 15 years in prison — in conjunction with the supply and facilitation of narcotics,” read a statement from , who requested the arrests of the three people in a 180-page indictment submitted by . “The second defendant, a hotel employee, is charged with providing Payne cocaine on two occasions while he stayed at the hotel, and the third defendant, also a narcotics supplier, is charged with two additional confirmed instances of cocaine supply on October 14. Both are charged with narcotics supply.”
The forensic team ultimately ruled out “self-harm or third-party involvement” in connection with Payne’s death and noted that his “lack of defensive posture upon impact suggests [he] may have fallen in a semi- or fully unconscious state.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
