An Angels staffer on Monday, Oct. 20 denied knowing that a former co-worker tied to the death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs had long struggled with an addiction to opioids, as the wrongful death trial against the ball club entered its second week.
Tom Taylor, a longtime traveling secretary with the Angels, acknowledged during his testimony in Orange County Superior Court that despite former Angels communications staffer Eric Kay’s at-times abnormal behavior over the years, he never reported Kay for potential violation of the team and league substance abuse policies. Kay is now in federal prison for providing Skaggs with a counterfeit pill containing fentanyl that led to the pitcher’s death in 2019.
Taylor, a longtime personal friend of Kay’s, also denied that Kay admitted to him in 2013 that he was addicted to Vicodin or that he saw baggies of pills hidden in Kay’s bedroom in 2017. Attorneys for the Skaggs family say both those alleged incidents — which they attribute to the recollections of Kay’s wife — show the Angels knew prior to Skaggs death that Kay was addicted to opioids and distributing pills to Skaggs and other players.
Unlike former Angels VP Tim Mead — Kay’s former boss who preceded Taylor on the witness stand and acknowledged he knew Kay had what he believed to be a prescription drug problem — Taylor testified that prior to Skaggs death he believed Kay was only struggling with mental health issues. Kay told coworkers he had been diagnosed with depression, ADHD and bipolar disorder.
“I wasn’t aware of possible drug use,” Taylor testified.
“Did you ever hear about an investigation?” Skaggs family attorney Daniel Dutko asked.
“No sir,” Taylor replied.
That Kay was also providing opioids to Skaggs and five other Angels players has not been disputed during the civil trial. Testimony from Taylor and Mead will likely be key in the jury determining whether the ball club knew or should have known about the Kay and Skaggs drug connection prior to the pitcher’s death in a Texas hotel room at the beginning of a road trip.
Attorneys for the Skaggs family have repeatedly noted that team policy calls for anyone reasonably believed to be under the influence while at work to be placed on unpaid suspension until the results of a drug test can be received. They also noted that Major League Baseball policy lists opioids as a prohibited substance and that the misuse of a prescription medication can lead to discipline that could include an employee being barred from the sport.
Taylor acknowledged that at one point Kay’s wife texted Taylor and Mead a photo of bottle of prescriptions Kay was taking. It included Suboxone, a medication used to treat opioid addiction. Taylor said he didn’t know at the time what the medication was for.
“Don’t you have an obligation to at least Google the pill your friend is taking?” Dutko asked.
“I felt he was under a doctor’s care and taking the pills he was medically prescribed,” Taylor replied.
Under questioning by Angels Attorney Todd Theodora, Taylor described Kay as a “jovial” and “funny” person who was nonetheless serious about his work.
“Ninety nine percent of the time he was on,” Taylor said. “One percent of the time he had an off day.”
Kay in 2013 had what his colleagues apparently believed to be a panic attack in a press box at Yankee Stadium. In 2018, Taylor reported hearing that Kay had “passed out” in a press box in Seattle and couldn’t be woken up, leading Taylor to help him into the visiting clubhouse for a nap. In 2019, at Angels Stadium on Easter Sunday, an erratic Kay was taken home by Taylor and later hospitalized.
Taylor denied that Kay’s wife told him that Easter Day that Kay had oxycodone or that it was for Skaggs.
After the hospitalization, Kay went through outpatient rehab. Weeks after he returned to work, Kay traveled with the team to Texas, where he provided the counterfeit pill to Skaggs.
Weeks after Skaggs death, Kay told a coworker that he had been in the hotel room with Skaggs prior to his death and had seen the pitcher snorting drugs. That coworker went to Taylor, and the two of them called Mead, who had left the team a month before Skaggs death to work at the Baseball Hall of Fame. Mead told Taylor and the other Angels employee that they needed to inform Angels President John Carpino.
“My recollection is he (Mead) said this is about the ball club, not an individual,” Taylor said.
The Angels attorneys argue that Skaggs death was a result of his decision to mix the counterfeit pill containing fentanyl with oxycodone and an estimated 11 to 13 alcoholic drinks. The ball club was not aware of his addiction, the attorneys argue, or that Kay was providing him with pills.
Testimony continues Tuesday in what is expected to be a more than month-long trial.