A dramatic 15-second dispatch call sending first responders to Matthew Perry’s Los Angeles home refers to ‘drowning’, an audio tape reveals.
Perry’s assistant made an urgent 911 call, which has not been published, after the Friends star suffered a cardiac arrest in his hot tub on Saturday.
Now a recording of the moment emergency services rushed to the scene has been shared which describes a drowning – known as an Emergency Medical Situation 9.
In a chilling recording of the dispatch, which bleeps out certain words, a first responder says: ‘Agent 23. Rescue 23. EMS 9 on the radio. In response to the drowning.’
The Friends star, 54, was found dead on Saturday at his home in the exclusive Pacific Palisades neighborhood, and tributes have been pouring in since.
The coroner for Los Angeles County has listed Matthew Perry’s cause of death as ‘deferred’, pending the final results of toxicology tests.
Matthew Perry is pictured on October 22 – the last time he was seen in public. His cause of death is deferred, pending toxicology tests
Aerial images show Perry’s pool and hot tub where he was found dead Saturday
Coroners are seen on Saturday night removing Perry’s body from his LA home
In his last post to his Instagram, posted earlier this week, the star shared images of him in his pool
On Sunday afternoon, the coroner released his body to the family, but said they are yet to determine a cause of death.
The Medical Examiner’s office can release initial results within days, or it can take six to eight weeks for final results of toxicology tests to come back.
A LAPD source told The New York Post: ‘We responded to the 1800 block of Blue Sail Rd for a death investigation on a male 4:10 p.m. this afternoon. He was in his 50s.’
No drugs were found at the scene with authorities ruling out foul play.
Sources did say that anti-depressant and anti-anxiety medications were found inside the property, including pills for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Friends have said that star seemed ‘fatigued’ in his last days, and in his final post on Instagram, shared earlier this week, he posted images of him in his pool.
The caption read: ‘Oh, so warm water swirling around makes you feel good? I’m Mattman.’
Perry had a long battle with drugs and alcohol, was a smoker and had multiple health issues.
Perry wrote in his memoir, published last year, that he had spent $9 million trying to get sober, revealing he had been to 6,000 AA meetings, gone to rehab 15 times, and been in detox 65 times.
Pictures in the wake of Perry’s death emerged showing the pool and hot tub at the Friends star’s home (pictured)
The coroner is seen arriving at Perry’s property on Saturday night
Matthew Perry ‘s father, John Bennett Perry, 82, was seen arriving at his son’s LA home looking stricken just hours after the Friends star’s death
A jet ski accident in 1997, on the set of his film Fools Rush In, saw him hospitalized and later become addicted to the opioid painkiller Vicodin.
He said at one point he was taking 55 Vicodin pills a day, and his weight dropped to 128 pounds.
In 2000 he was taken to hospital with pancreatitis, and in 2018 his colon burst.
‘The doctors told my family that I had a 2% chance to live,’ Perry told Diane Sawyer during a promotional interview for his book.
‘I was put on a thing called an ECMO machine, which does all the breathing for your heart and your lungs. And that’s called a Hail Mary. No one survives that.’
Perry spent nearly two weeks in a coma and five months in the hospital, then used a colostomy bag for nine months.
He said he overcame addiction in 2021 and was believed to be leading a healthier lifestyle.
He had taken up pickle ball – a game similar to tennis and table tennis – and usually played it twice a day, friends said.
Although Perry usually played the game twice a day, But on Saturday he’d only lasted an hour on the court at his local country club before going home, his regular partner told TV presenter Billy Bush.
‘[Pickleball] regulated his days,’ said Bush. ‘I spoke to the woman he played with this morning and every morning. She is in shock, adored Matt… she said he had been fatigued today and over the past week. A little more than usual.’
Perry playing Pickleball in Santa Monica on October 22
Perry rose to fame for his role as Chandler Bing on the hit 90s sitcom Friends, which ran for 10 seasons
Perry, who never married but dated a number of stars including Julia Roberts, has been candid and public about his problems with drugs and alcohol.
He told an interviewer in 2016 that he doesn’t remember filming three seasons of Friends.
Despite hiding his demons from public view for years, Perry detailed his struggles in his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers And The Big Terrible Thing.
In the opening, he wrote: ‘Hi, my name is Matthew, although you may know me by another name. My friends call me Matty. And I should be dead.’
He added: ‘People would be surprised to know that I have mostly been sober since 2001. Save for about sixty or seventy little mishaps over the years.’
A longtime friend of Perry’s – who was in recovery with him – told DailyMail.com last night: ‘Everyone is in a total state of shock. People are crying on the phone and struggling to accept this news.
‘It’s no secret that he struggled with drugs and alcohol for years but the last time I spoke to him, which was within the last few weeks, he seemed to be in a good place.
‘He was upbeat and sounded sober and positive.
‘He’d been to rehab 17 times and nearly died from opioid abuse but he was someone who was sincere about taking his life, and his sobriety, one day at a time.
‘It’s such tragic news. Everyone is praying he didn’t relapse. Matt was a genuinely lovely guy. He was always the first to welcome newcomers to the group and would always volunteer to help and be of service.
‘We are all struggling to come to terms with this terrible news.’
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk