DC.com's Official report per Spagnola
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IRVING, Texas - A Dallas Police Department spokesman Wednesday morning very tersely said there would be no criminal investigation into the Tuesday night incident involving Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Terrell Owens being rushed to the hospital after suffering an adverse reaction to pain medication prescribed to him a week ago following surgery to repair his broken hand.
In the midst of wild speculation of an attempted suicide by Owens, who reportedly took an overdose of pain medication, Dallas Police Department Lt. Rick Watson at a 10 a.m. news conference held in downtown Dallas said, "In the course of this, in our investigation, we've determined that at this time, this is not a criminal offense. This is a medical type of situation in the incident that occurred."
Lt. Watson didn't leave his statement at that. He reiterated, "The Dallas Police Department does not have any other investigation going on, on this incident. Any information that you need, you'll have to contact Mr. Owens or you'll have to contact the medical staff.
"Do I need to repeat any of that?"
Multiple people with knowledge of this sort of incident and these types of investigations maintain that if this indeed was determined to be a suicide attempt the DPD would not be allowing Owens to leave Baylor Medical Center, as he already has, and that it would subject Owens to a 72-hour psychological investigation.
That Lt. Watson said one more time, "It's not a criminal offense" seems to refute the notion that whatever happened from the time a 911 call was placed Tuesday evening by Owens' publicist Kim Etheredge and the 10 a.m. news conference was not the suicide attempt that has been widely reported.
Etheredge told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that Owens "is fine . . . he will be leaving the hospital today." Owens in fact not only was leaving the hospital this morning, but to make a statement for reporters outside his residence early Wednesday afternoon.
Cowboys officials have made no comment so far on the incident, other than to point out a normal schedule of practice, open locker room and head coach Bill Parcells' daily news conference was planned for Wednesday as the team continues preparation for Sunday's game at Tennessee. Parcells' news conference planned for 1:30 p.m. (CDT) can be heard on DallasCowboys.com.
Owens has been taking pain medication for the past week, following his surgery on Sept. 18 to place a metal plate over his fractured fourth metacarpal on his right hand to help facilitate healing. In fact, Parcells said last Wednesday Owens had a bad reaction to pain medication and was sent home while the team had its first workout during the bye week. Owens returned to The Ranch on Thursday and actually did some running with the team on Friday.
As of Tuesday, when the Cowboys returned to practice from their bye weekend, Parcells hadn't ruled out the possibility of Owens returning Sunday against the Titans (noon, CDT), a potential 13-day turnaround from last Monday's surgery. Owens didn't practice Tuesday but began catching passes, and Parcells said he thought Owens would participate to some extent at practice Wednesday.
According to Etheredge, Owens experienced increased pain and discomfort Tuesday evening, causing him to take a few of his pain medication pills. She also told the Star-Telegram Owens had previously taken some supplements and that "it kicked in a reaction.
"When I went to grab him, he was out of it. That's why I called 911."
Etheredge said Owens did not have his stomach pumped at the hospital and did not vomit, as was initially reported by several local news affiliates.
His exact words were, "TO told me his pastor and Kim were there... and he (TO) told them he wasn't feeling right"
