Gay activist Keith Kimmel died from a
drug overdose, not from injuries he allegedly sustained at the hands
of Tulsa, Oklahoma police, according to a coroner's report issued
Thursday.
The Office of the Chief Medical
Examiner said Kimmel died from acute oxycodone toxicity, NewsOn6.com
reported. Oxycodone is the generic name for OxyContin.
Kimmel was found dead by a friend five
days after being “beat up” by police in March.
Kimmel first made headlines last year
when he sued the Oklahoma Tax Commission for refusing his request for
a personalized 'IM GAY' license plate. He said the right to display
his sexuality on a license plate was protected free speech and noted
that the state had issued similar plates for straight people,
including 'STR8SXI' and 'STR8FAN.'
Two days before his death, Kimmel filed
a complaint against Tulsa police in which he claimed that officers
called to the scene over the weekend to break up a fight at The End
Up Club, a gay stripped bar, “beat him,” made “crude comments
about my weight” and “several derogatory remarks were made with
regard to my sexual orientation and the entertainers and/or patrons
of the bar.”
He called the incident a “blatant
hate crime” in the complaint.
Kimmel was taken into custody but never
booked. Officers instead drove him to St. John Medical Center.
In his complaint, Kimmel included
various photographs of injuries he sustained, including a foot-long
bruise on his stomach. The autopsy report does confirm those
injuries.