Guard testifies Murray stopped CPR on Jackson to gather drug vials

LOS ANGELES -- Michael Jackson's doctor tried to revive him with a substandard version of CPR, performing chest compressions intermittently with one hand while the singer lay on a mattress, a security guard testified Thursday.

Alberto Alvarez, Jackson's director of logistics, was the first staffer to enter the bedroom where Jackson lay lifeless on June 25, 2009.

He told jurors that Dr. Conrad Murray told him Jackson had "a bad reaction" and needed to get to a hospital, but then stopped CPR and directed him to gather up pill bottles.

Alvarez said Murray grabbed a handful of vials and told him, "Here, put these in a bag."

The doctor also asked him to remove an intravenous drip bag containing "a milky white substance" -- a description consistent with the surgical anesthetic propofol.

Only then did Murray request Alvarez call 911, the guard testified.

Investigators later found the bags in a cabinet in another bedroom in the house. They contained 10 bottles of propofol and an IV bag that held an 11th empty bottle of the anesthetic. Deputy District Attorney David Walgren displayed the IV bag, covered in fingerprint dust, for jurors.

Walgren asked why Alvarez had followed the doctor's instructions.

He replied that he "believed Dr. Conrad Murray had the best intentions" and thought they were packing up medication for the hospital.

Alvarez, a beefy man with a black brushcut, appeared to choke up as he recalled the presence of Jackson's children at the chaotic scene.

He said Murray told him, "Don't let them see their dad like this."

"Paris screamed out, 'Daddy!' " Alvarez said.

He said he ushered her and her brother Prince out of the room with assurances that "everything will be OK."

Jackson was pronounced dead two hours later at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center from what a coroner later determined was an overdose of propofol and sedatives.

Murray, charged with manslaughter in the case, claims Jackson administered a fatal dose of the drugs himself.

(c)2011 the Los Angeles Times

Visit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.com

Distributed by MCT Information Services

 

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