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Harry Benson Remembers Michael Jackson

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I first met Michael on a hillside in Colorado in 1984. He was on the famous Victory Tour with his brothers.

Michael was the first to come running over to help when I slipped going up a steep muddy hill. I was fine, but a couple of lenses got covered in mud. That was the first time Michael took a liking to one of my brown Scottish tweed sports jackets, so I took it off and gave it to him. He seemed pleased by my gesture and immediately put it on, put both arms out and twirled around in the bright sunlight while I photographed him running and jumping. On stage that night he glittered in sequins. I flew back to New York with the photographs.

The momentum of the Victory Tour kept building, so I joined Michael in Philadelphia for more photos. The same thing happened again. This time it was a gray Harris tweed jacket. I saw him looking closely at the colors in the tweed. They seemed to fascinate him, so again I gave him my jacket. Sometime later I was amused to see a news clip of Michael actually wearing the jacket, running into a limo, mobbed by fans.

 

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CA Atty Gen Launches Investigation Into Jackson Death

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After the Coroner’s office released the official cause of Michael Jackson’s death Friday (Aug 28 2009), the California Attorney General has launched an independent investigation into the case.  The Coroner found Jackson’s main cause of death is “acute propofol toxicity” which, experts say, points the finger directly at Murray.

A.G. Jerry Brown released a statement saying that the LAPD asked Brown’s agents to initiate an investigation into “several” doctors whose names came up during the course of the Jackson death investigation.

From the press release:

Responding to a request from the LAPD, agents from my office will investigate several physicians whose names have come up in the course of the Michael Jackson death inquiry.

Reports say that police met with Bureau of Narcotics and Drug Enforcement Administration representatives on August 20 2009 about this issue. 

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LA Times: Drug amounts in Michael Jackson death probe don’t add up

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If Michael Jackson died from lethal levels of the powerful anesthetic propofol, then his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, would have had to inject much more of the drug than he reportedly told police, medical experts said.

That opinion is based on court records unsealed in Houston on Monday in which Los Angeles police detectives recount Murray’s statement, taken in a three-hour interview two days after the pop star’s death.

According to the records, Murray told them that he had been giving Jackson 50 milligrams of propofol each night over a six-week period. Murray told police that he had been trying to wean Jackson off the powerful anesthetic and, on the night of his death, gave him a combination of other sedatives — until finally succumbing to Jackson’s repeated demands for propofol.

According to the documents, Murray then gave Jackson 25 milligrams of propofol. But those amounts — 25 and 50 milligrams — are far below the dosage required to anesthesize someone and keep them asleep, several experts said.