1995.04.22 - The Los Angeles Times - Drummer May Face Charges in Overdose (Steven)

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Drummer May Face Charges in Overdose

Crime: Police say they plan to take action against former Guns N’ Roses member who they say was treated for drug use.

By JULIE TAMAKI and NICHOLAS RICCARDI
TIMES STAFF WRITERS

SHERMAN OAKS-Los Angeles police said Friday that they plan to take action against the former drummer of the rock band Guns N’ Roses who allegedly overdosed on drugs this week inside a parked Ford Bronco, but would not say what kind.

Steven Adler, 30, was taken to the Medical Center of North Hollywood on Thursday evening after residents in the 4500 block of Morse Avenue called police and paramedics, saying that a man had been slumped over the steering wheel of his car for hours, LAPD Detective John Edwards said.

“He overdosed himself on what appears to be heroin while in the car,” Edwards said. “Later on at the hospital, when he came to, he admitted he was the former drummer of Guns N’ Roses.”

Adler was treated and released Thursday, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

Edwards said police planned to take “legal action” against Adler but would not elaborate.

Adler had previously been treated for a drug overdose at the same hospital, Edwards said.

Thursday's events apparently began when Adler parked a black Bronco in the neighborhood sometime between 2:30 and 3:30 p.m. with the windows rolled up and two dogs inside, Edwards said.

Neighbors gathered around the Bronco because they thought from the driver's actions that he was having a heart attack, resident Robert Blue said.

Edwards said it was unclear why Adler chose to park in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood, but said it Was not far from his Studio City residence.

Adler parted ways with Guns N' Roses in 1989. He later sued his former band mates, alleging that he was thrown out of the group and cheated out of his share of millions of dollars the group made during the 1980s.

But according to testimony; in Los Angeles Superior Court by the band’s manager, Doug Goldstein, Adler was dismissed from the band due to a heroin addiction. The group settled out of court with Adler for $2.5 million in 1993, just hours before the case was to go to a jury.

He told the Houston Chronicle in an August interview from Cedars—Sinai Medical Center that, “ . . . I'm detoxing after doing heroin and coke and I'm just thankful I'm alive and that I was able to get in here.”