A former Los Angeles Angels ballpark attendant testified on Tuesday, Nov. 4 that it was well-known in the clubhouse that Eric Kay – the communications staffer who would later give pitcher Tyler Skaggs an illicit pill that led to his death – was a drug addict.
Kris Constanti described during his testimony in the ongoing wrongful death trial against the ballclub hearing Kay admit to being high on Norco while at the ballpark, to hiring sex-workers to stay with him during spring training and to appearing to have snorted drugs in a team kitchen moments before Angels owner Arte Moreno walked in.
An attorney for the Angels painted Constanti as a disgruntled former employee still angry at the team for letting him go after he’d worked for more than a decade with the ballclub. Constanti acknowledged that he never saw Kay actually ingest any drugs and never formally reported his suspicions to the organization.
Angels employees who worked with Kay have denied knowing he was addicted to opioids or providing illicit pills to Angels players, including Skaggs. Attorneys for the Skaggs family — as well as Kay’s ex-wife — allege team officials were well aware of Kay’s illegal drug use and his drug ties to Skaggs prior to the 27-year-old pitcher’s 2019 death in a Texas hotel room. Kay has been convicted of providing Skaggs with a counterfeit pill containing fentanyl that when combined with oxycodone and alcohol resulted in Skaggs death.
Constanti, a clubhouse attendant who worked with Kay from 2010 to 2019, said he always saw Kay as a “goofball” who “had a lot of energy.” But that energy seemed to turn into something else around 2016, Constanti testified.
“He was pacing back and forth a lot,” Constanti said. “Always sweating. Talking really fast. Couldn’t finish a sentence sometimes.”
Constanti described several incidents during spring training in Tempe, Arizona that led him to believe Kay was under the influence of drugs. He recalled walking into a staff kitchen and seeing Kay “messing with his nose,” and erupting in laughter when asked what he was doing.
“I figured he just got done snorting something,” Constanti said.
Moments later, Constanti testified, Angels owner Arte Moreno walked in, and Kay quickly exited. Later that day, Constanti recalled Kay walking up to him and saying “Thanks for saving my job,” leading Constanti to reply, “I didn’t save anything.”
Constanti said Kay told him on one occasion that a sex worker was staying with him in a team-provided lodging during spring training, and on another occasion said Kay told him that a sex worker had robbed him of money and “stuff,” which he took to be a reference to drugs. He also testified that Kay walked past him one day at work looking “really high,” adding that Kay told him he was on Norco — an opioid pain medication — when Constanti asked what was going on.
“Was it well known in the clubhouse that Eric Kay was a drug addict?” Skaggs family attorney Daniel Dutko asked.
“Yes,” Constanti replied.
Jurors were shown several videos Constanti recorded of Kay, including Kay taking part in a clubhouse bet where he agreed to take a 90 mph pitch to the leg while Angels star Albert Pujols and a team hitting coach watched and egged Kay on. But Constanti said he began to suspect that Kay was using the money from the clubhouse bets for drugs, a suspicion he shared with Mike Trout.
“I told him to stop giving him money because you don’t know where it was going,” Constanti testified.
Trout previously testified to assuming Constanti was warning him that Kay had a drug issue, and described personally offering to help Kay.
When Kay returned from Texas following Skaggs’ death, Constanti said he made a comment to him about the horrible road trip. Kay responded by saying “Yeah, imagine if I was in the room with him. I could have saved him,” Constanti added.
Constanti, who now works as a golf caddie in Washington, acknowledged under questioning by the Angels’ attorney that he was upset after being fired by the team in 2020. He denied that he was still angry, but agreed that he wants the plaintiffs — Skaggs’ family — to win the ongoing wrongful death lawsuit.
“You didn’t actually see any illegal drug use, correct?” Angels attorney Stephen Ladsous asked.
“Correct,” Constanti replied.
Testimony in the trial continues Wednesday morning in a Santa Ana courtroom.