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By the time police arrived at the Mondrian South Beach shortly after midnight, paramedics had treated the man, and he was in stable condition. Officers tried to speak to Gillum but were unable to “due to his inebriated state,” according to an incident report filed by the Miami Beach Police Department. Gillum was intoxicated and vomiting in the bathroom, according to the report.
Police said they had impounded three small plastic bags “containing suspected crystal meth” that officers saw on both the bed and floor of the hotel room.
“At this time, the incident is not being investigated as a criminal matter,” Officer Ernesto Rodriguez, a department spokesman, said in an email.
Gillum, 40, the former mayor of Tallahassee, is a commentator for CNN. His name has occasionally surfaced as a possible running mate for the eventual Democratic presidential nominee. He leads Forward Florida, an organization he created to register voters after losing the governor’s race in 2018 to Ron DeSantis by about 32,000 votes.
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In a statement Friday, Gillum said he was in Miami for a wedding “when first responders were called to assist one of my friends.”
“While I had too much to drink, I want to be clear that I have never used methamphetamines,” he said. “I apologize to the people of Florida for the distraction this has caused our movement.
“I’m thankful to the incredible Miami Beach EMS team for their efforts,” he added. “I will spend the next few weeks with my family and appreciate privacy during this time.”
Gillum and the other man, Travis Dyson, 30, were found by Aldo Mejias, 56, a friend of Dyson’s. In a brief phone interview Friday morning, an emotional Mejias said he got to the room shortly after 11 p.m. He was supposed to meet Dyson to go out on South Beach.
But Dyson and Gillum, whom Mejias said he did not know, had arrived much earlier, around 6 p.m. After Dyson let Mejias into the room, Dyson collapsed onto the bed, according to the police report. Mejias performed chest compressions on Dyson.
“I was seeing very shallow breathing,” he said of Dyson. “The other guy was passed out on the floor, throwing up.”
Paramedics took Dyson to a hospital. He has since been released, Mejias said.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times .