Scott Sterling Death Ruling: Son Of Clippers Owner Died In Drug-Related Accident

A Scott Sterling death ruling from the Los Angeles County Coroner shows that the son of the Clippers owner died in a drug-related accident.

The coroner’s office issued a statement Monday that Scott Ashley Sterling died of a pulmonary embolism after he injected narcotic medication intended to be taken orally. The report did not specify which drug was injected, but the report did not that oxycodone was found in Sterling’s system at the time of his death.

The Scott Sterling death ruling also noted a pre-existing medical condition contributed to his death. Sterling, the son of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, suffered from diabetes, which was listed as a “significant condition” in his death.

Police found the body of the 32-year-old Sterling on New Year’s Day, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department said. It wasn’t known who called police, but family and friends of Sterling said they hadn’t seen him in a couple of days.

Lt. Larry Dietz said at the time that the death appeared to be accidental. An autopsy was performed two days later.

Scott Sterling had a checkered past. In 1999 he was in the news for the shooting of his childhood friend, Philip Scheid. The shooting was reportedly over Lindsey McKeon, a 19-year-old actress from Saved by the Bell: The New Class, who Sterling had dated.

“He gets crazy when it comes to her,” Scheid said of Sterling.

McKeon had gone to visit Sterling after the two stopped dating. She and Scheid started dating at that point, and when Scheid showed up Sterling assumed it was to embarrass him. The two fought, and Sterling retrieved a shotgun and aimed it at Scheud, firing one shot that hit him in the lower legs.

Sterling was not charged, and police claimed that his father Donald Sterling, who bought the Los Angeles Clippers for $12.5 million in 1981, made the case go away by intimidating a detective.

A complete Scott Sterling death ruling will be released in the coroner’s final report, due out within two weeks.