Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay was found unresponsive, cold and struggling to breathe after Carmel Police were dispatched to his home in December, according to a police report obtained by TMZ.
The report says that on December 8, 2023, local police were sent to Irsay’s Carmel residence after someone found the 64-year-old unconscious with a blue skin tone. By the time police arrived, Irsay was gasping for air and had a weak pulse and constricted pupils. Irsay was not woken up with a sternum rub but “responded slightly” after being administered a dose of Narcan – a drug most commonly used to revive people overdosing on opiates.
Paramedics arrived shortly thereafter and “took over lifesaving efforts,” according to the report. Irsay was eventually transported to a nearby hospital, and police later classified the incident in their records as both “overdose” and “overdose/poisoning.”
On January 9, the Colts released a statement via ESPN’s Adam Schefter stating that Irsay was “being treated for a severe respiratory illness.” The guitar aficionado had also backed out of an event with his group, The Jim Irsay Band, around the same time.
Irsay has been open about his battles with addiction to drugs and alcohol. The Colts owner first publicly acknowledged in 2022 that he had developed a dependency on painkillers. In a 2010 interview with USA Today, Irsay detailed his “balls-to-the-wall” lifestyle as a younger man, referencing excessive drinking and use of cocaine and mushrooms.
In March 2014, Irsay was arrested under suspicion of DUI and drug possession. Police “believed Irsay to be intoxicated on a substance other than alcohol” and found $29,000 in cash as well as bottles of prescription drugs in the vehicle, according to a police report obtained by the Indianapolis Star. Irsay entered rehab and the charges were later dismissed
In a November 2023 interview with Andrea Kremer, the Colts owner revealed he has been to rehab “at least 15 times” and has overdosed in the past.
“Oh, yeah,” Irsay said in the “Real Sports” interview. “One time, I was trying to detox myself and I mixed multiple drugs that I didn’t know anything about. So all of a sudden, I start slurring my words. And then code blue, I stop breathing. And they revive me and the doctor goes, ‘Jim, you’re one lucky man because I had virtually signed the death certificate.’”
