The state medical examiner’s office ruled Tuesday that the death of a Trinity student in November was accidental and caused by a rare stomach disorder that was exacerbated by cocaine use.
Chief Medical Examiner James Gill said that Chase Hyde died of gastric ischemia that was complicated by recent cocaine use. Ischemia is injury of tissue or cells from lack of blood flow. It can be heightened by certain drugs such as cocaine that can cause arteries to spasm and decrease blood flow. Gill called it a “very rare complication.”
Trinity spokeswoman Kathy Andrews said Tuesday that school officials weren’t aware of the cause of death.
“Our campus community continues to mourn the death in November of student Chase Hyde, a member of the Class of 2019. Our hearts are with his family and his many close friends,” Andrews said. “We will honor Chase at Trinity’s Commencement in May.”
Andrews said this spring the school completed student focus groups with experts in the field of alcohol and drug education. The information from that work will help inform school officials on the most effective way to educate students regarding the use of alcohol and drugs.
Hartford emergency personnel were called to 47 Crescent Street on Nov. 11 for a report of an unresponsive person. The 23-year-old Hyde was rushed to the hospital, where he died. Hyde, who was a senior, was from Dover, Mass.
Hartford police Lt. Paul Cicero said based upon the age of the individual, the patrol sergeant summoned major crimes division investigators to the scene. Several detectives and supervisors arrived shortly thereafter and assumed control of the investigation.
Investigators determined the student had become ill the previous afternoon and was vomiting throughout the day and night, Cicero said. The apartment where Hyde was found belonged to his girlfriend, and they thought that he was suffering from food poisoning.
A detective was assigned to the case, but it will now be closed and considered an accidental drug-related death. Cicero said that means 71 people died of drug-related causes in Hartford in 2018. Already this year there have been 23 deaths, he said.
Hyde is one of the youngest to die in that three-year period, Cicero said.
The day Hyde’s death was announced students and faculty packed the school chapel for a midday memorial service. The flag outside the church doors was at half staff, and students carrying their backpacks filed into the church, many of them crying or fighting back tears. When the service ended, a large group of students, many of them Hyde’s fraternity brothers, filed into a side room to grieve privately.
Hyde was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. It is unclear if the Crescent Street townhouse where he was found is his residence. The townhouses are available to upper class students and normally house eight or nine students.
Police said it was the first death at Trinity in a number of years. In March of 2000, a 22-year-old student died after a night spent drinking alcohol and snorting a deadly concoction of prescription drugs.
“We take addressing drug and alcohol abuse very seriously. We have worked over the past three years to develop and carry out, campus-wide, a number of focused drug and alcohol abuse education and prevention plans,” Andrews said.
She added during the 2016–17 school year, Trinity developed broad-based goals for alcohol and other drug (AOD) use prevention and education, revised protocols for students referred to the student conduct system for AOD use, formed a Wellness Committee, and developed a new student wellness initiative, Bantams in Balance.
Dave Altimari can be reached at daltimari@courant.com.
