http://www.gulfnews.com/world/U.S.A/10326494.html
Police search for Michael Jackson's doctor
AP
Published: June 27, 2009, 00:12
Los Angeles: Police investigating Michael Jackson's death were looking
for one of the pop king's doctors after seizing a car that they said may
contain drugs or other evidence.
As medical examiners began an autopsy for Jackson, police towed a BMW
from rented home "because it may contain medications or other evidence that may
assist the coroner in determining the cause of death," police spokeswoman Karen
Rayner said.
She said the car belongs to one of Jackson's doctors whom police wanted
to interview. Rayner said she did not know the doctor's identity and stressed
the doctor was not under criminal investigation.
The autopsy began on Friday morning and was expected to last several
hours. An official determination on cause of death was not expected for weeks
or longer, until more sophisticated tests are completed.
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In a transcript of the emergency call released by fire officials, a
caller reports Jackson was on a bed and not breathing or responding to
cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The unidentified caller said Jackson only was
with his personal doctor at the time.
"I need an ambulance as soon as possible, sir," the caller said urgently
but politely. "We have a gentleman here that needs help and he's not breathing
yet. He's not breathing and we need to _ we're trying to pump him, but he's
not, he's not."
The pop star died later Thursday afternoon at University of California
Los Angeles Medical Center.
As stores reported they were inundated with orders for Jackson's music, a
chorus of grief for the megastar spread around the world, from statesmen to
icons of music to legions of heartbroken fans.
"I can't stop crying. This is too sudden and shocking," said Diana Ross,
who helped launch Jackson's career. "I am unable to imagine this. My heart is
hurting."
Lisa Marie Presley, briefly married to the pop icon in the mid-1990s,
said he had confided to her 14 years ago that he worried about facing the same
tragic fate as her father, Elvis Presley, who died of a drug overdose at age 42.
"The world is in shock but somehow he knew exactly how his fate would be
played out some day more than anyone else knew, and he was right," she wrote in
a long, emotional statement on her MySpace page online.
The White House also weighed in for the first time, with a spokesman
saying President Barack Obama saw Jackson as a spectacular performer and music
icon whose life nonetheless had sad and tragic aspects. The House of
Representatives observed a moment of silence.
Brian Oxman, a former Jackson attorney and a family friend, said on
Friday he had been concerned about Jackson's use of painkillers and had warned
the singer's family about possible abuse.
"I said one day, we're going to have this experience. And when Anna
Nicole Smith passed away, I said we cannot have this kind of thing with Michael
Jackson," Oxman said on NBC's "Today" show. "The result was, I warned everyone,
and lo and behold, here we are. I don't know what caused his death. But I
feared this day, and here we are."
Oxman claimed Jackson had prescription drugs at his disposal to help with
pain suffered when he broke his leg after he fell off a stage and for broken
vertebrae in his back.
After Jackson was acquitted on child molestation charges in 2005,
prosecutors argued against returning to Jackson items including syringes, the
drug Demerol and prescriptions for various drugs, mainly antibiotics, in
different people's names.
Jackson died after being stricken at his rented home in the posh Los
Angeles neighborhood of Holmby Hills. Paramedics tried to resuscitate him for
three-quarter of an hours there before rushing him to the hospital.
His brother Jermaine said Jackson apparently suffered cardiac arrest, an
abnormal heart rhythm that stops the heart from pumping blood to the body. It
can occur after a heart attack or be caused by other heart problems.
Jackson was preparing for a monster comeback bid _ a series of 50
concerts that was to begin next month in London.
A handful of bleary-eyed fans camped out throughout the night with media
outside the Jackson family house in the San Fernando Valley and near his star
on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. People heading to work in New York stopped to
pay respects outside Harlem's Apollo Theater, where Jackson performed as a
child.
"When the autopsy comes, all hell's going to break loose, so thank God
we're celebrating him now," Liza Minnelli told CBS' "The Early Show" by
telephone.
A producer said Sunday's BET Awards would be dedicated to Jackson because
of his influence on music and pop culture. And a screening of Universal
Pictures' "Bruno" in Los Angeles on Thursday night cut a scene involving
Jackson's sister La Toya.
Jackson's death brought a tragic end to a long, bizarre, sometimes
farcical decline from his peak in the 1980s, when he was popular music's
premier all-around performer. His 1982 album "Thriller" _ which included the
blockbuster hits "Beat It," "Billie Jean" and "Thriller" _ is the best-selling
album of all time worldwide.
Yet after selling more than 61 million albums in the US and having a
decade-long attraction open at Disney theme parks, Jackson died reportedly
awash in about $400 million in debt, on the cusp of a final comeback after well
over a decade of scandal.
The public first knew Jackson as a boy in the late 1960s, when he was the
precocious, spinning lead singer of the Jackson 5, the singing group he formed
with his four older brothers out of Gary, Indiana. Among their No. 1 hits were
"I Want You Back," "ABC" and "I'll Be There."
He was perhaps the most exciting performer of his generation, known for
his backward-gliding moonwalk, his feverish, crotch-grabbing dance moves and
his high-pitched singing, punctuated with squeals and titters. His single
sequined glove, tight, military-style jacket and aviator sunglasses were
trademarks, as was his ever-changing, surgically altered appearance.
"For Michael to be taken away from us so suddenly at such a young age, I
just don't have the words," said Quincy Jones, who produced "Thriller." "He was
the consummate entertainer and his contributions and legacy will be felt upon
the world forever. I've lost my little brother today, and part of my soul has
gone with him."
Jackson ranked alongside Presley and the Beatles as the biggest pop
sensations of all time. He united two of music's biggest names when he was
briefly married to Presley's daughter, Lisa Marie. Jackson's sudden death
immediately evoked comparisons to that of Presley himself, who died at age 42
in 1977.
As years went by, Jackson became an increasingly freakish figure - a
middle-aged man-child weirdly out of touch with grown-up life. His skin became
lighter, his nose narrower, and he spoke in a breathy, girlish voice. He often
wore a germ mask while traveling, kept a pet chimpanzee named Bubbles as one of
his closest companions and surrounded himself with children at his Neverland
ranch, a storybook playland filled with toys, rides and animals. The tabloids
dubbed him "Wacko Jacko."
After the enormous success of "Thriller," Jackson had strong follow-up
albums with 1987's "Bad" and 1991's "Dangerous," but his career began to
collapse in 1993 after he was accused of molesting a boy who often stayed at
his home.
The singer denied any wrongdoing, reached a settlement with the boy's
family, reported to be $20 million, and criminal charges were never filed.
Jackson caused a furor in 2002 when he playfully dangled his infant son,
Prince Michael II, over a hotel balcony in Berlin while a throng of fans
watched from below.
In 2005, he was cleared of charges that he molested a 13-year-old cancer
survivor at Neverland in 2003. He had been accused of plying the boy with
alcohol and groping him, and of engaging in strange and inappropriate behavior
with other children.
The case followed years of rumors about Jackson and young boys. In a TV
documentary, he acknowledged sharing his bed with children, a practice he
described as sweet and not at all sexual.
Despite the acquittal, the lurid allegations that came out in court took
a fearsome toll on his career and image, and he fell into serious financial
trouble.
Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley in 1994, and they divorced in 1996.
Later that year, Jackson married Deborah Rowe, a former nurse for his
dermatologist. They had two children together: Michael Joseph Jackson Jr.,
known as Prince Michael, now 12" and Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, 11. Rowe
filed for divorce in 1999.
Jackson also had a third child, Prince Michael II, now 7. Jackson said
the boy, nicknamed Blanket as a baby, was his biological child born from a
surrogate mother.
Billboard magazine editorial director Bill Werde said Jackson's star
power was unmatched. "The world just lost the biggest pop star in history, no
matter how you cut it," Werde said. "He's literally the king of pop."
Jackson's 13 No. 1 one hits on the Billboard charts put him behind only
Presley, the Beatles and Mariah Carey, Werde said.
"He was on the eve of potentially redeeming his career a little bit," he
said. "People might have started to think of him again in a different light."
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