Liam Payne’s cause of death revealed after balcony fall
Liam Payne’s cause of death was revealed Thursday, one day after the former One Direction member suffered a fall from his hotel balcony.
Payne suffered multiple traumas that led to internal and external bleeding, the National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office told Page Six of its preliminary autopsy report.
An emergency medical doctor also shared insight into the late star’s fatal injuries.
“Our role was to head there quickly, give medical attention and try to resuscitate him, but his injuries were incompatible with life,” Alberto Crescenti said, per the US Sun.
“Based on what the team saw, there was apparently a cranial fracture and extremely serious injuries that led to his immediate death,” the medical professional added.
Crescenti declined to comment on whether Payne had been under the influence at the time of the tragic incident and urged the public not to “get ahead of ourselves” while awaiting more thorough autopsy results.
However, the statement received by Page Six notes that alcohol and controlled substances were found in his room following his death.
The statement also noted that “due to the position in which the body was left and the injuries from the fall, it is presumed that Payne did not adopt a reflex posture to protect himself and that he could have fallen while in a state of semi or total unconsciousness.”
The UK-born artist died Wednesday after falling from the third-floor balcony of his room at CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was 31.
Police said Payne sustained “extremely serious injuries” and that medical staffers declared him dead at the scene.
The singer-songwriter had “thrown himself from the balcony of his room,” the spokesperson for the Security Ministry of Buenos Aires municipality, Pablo Policicchio, told the Associated Press.
Cops had been dispatched to the hotel in response to an emergency call reporting an “aggressive man who could be under the influence of drugs or alcohol,” Policicchio shared.
Officers on the scene reportedly then heard a thud and discovered Payne’s body in the hotel courtyard.
Crescenti previously told Argentina’s Todo Noticias TV channel that Payne fell 13 to 14 meters.
“We arrived in time to try and revive him, but there was nothing we could do,” Crescenti said, adding that authorities are investigating the circumstances surrounding Payne’s death and that an autopsy is being performed.
It has yet to be determined whether Payne’s deadly fall was intentional.
The musician took to Snapchat earlier in the day to share with his fans that he was having a “lovely day,” though the video appeared to be old.
Payne reportedly caused a scene in the hotel lobby moments before his death, with eyewitnesses telling TMZ that he smashed his laptop and had to be carried back to his room.
The late “What Makes You Beautiful” singer reportedly arrived in Argentina on Sept. 30 with his girlfriend, Kate Cassidy.
Payne — who shared a 7-year-old son named Bear with his ex-girlfriend Cheryl Cole — had posted several photos of his vacation with Cassidy on social media. On Oct. 2, the couple attended his former One Direction bandmate Niall Horan’s concert at the Movistar Arena in Buenos Aires.
However, Cassidy left the country Monday, and Payne reportedly later checked into CasaSur Palermo alone.
He has been open with his mental health and addiction struggles and even admitted to hitting “rock bottom” and experiencing “suicidal ideation” during his time in the band with Horan, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik.
The pop group formed in 2010, debuting on “The X Factor,” and dismantled for good six years later.
