A man who survived two overdoses from drugs
allegedly supplied by Ed Buck is suing the former Democratic donor, who was
convicted in July of the overdose deaths of two other Black men in his West
Hollywood apartment.
Dane Brown’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges sexual
battery, assault, hate violence, negligence, intentional infliction of
emotional distress and human trafficking. Brown, acting as his own attorney,
seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages in the suit brought Friday.
Christopher Darden, an attorney who represented Buck during the
criminal case, could not be immediately reached for comment.
Brown and Buck met on the Adam4Adam website in June 2019 and for the
next two months Buck often sent a ride-hailing vehicle to a hotel in Skid Row
where the plaintiff then lived to bring him to Buck’s residence, the suit
states.
After arriving at Buck’s apartment for the first visit, the two
engaged in sex and Buck provided methamphetamine to Brown to smoke and to use
intravenously, the suit states. Buck continued to provide the drug to Brown as
he stayed in Buck’s apartment from July through September 2019, the suit
states.
Buck, who sought out Brown because he is Black and gay, also forced
him to watch pornography, the suit states.
Buck intravenously injected methamphetamine into Brown on Sept. 4,
2019, and again a week later, causing Brown to overdose both times and have to
be hospitalized on each occasion, the suit states.
During the second incident, Buck also gave Brown the “date rape”
drug gamma hydroxybutyrate, also known as GHB, the suit alleges. Buck refused
to call an ambulance, so Brown walked across the street to a service station,
where an employee and a passerby called 911 on his behalf, according to the
suit.
Brown survived both overdoses and testified against Buck during a
trial in U.S. District Court, where on July 27 a jury found Buck guilty of
committing all nine crimes for which he was charged, including two counts of
violating distribution of methamphetamine resulting in death.
Buck once was a candidate for a seat on the West Hollywood City
Council.
He donated more than $500,000 to political candidates and causes, most
of them associated with the Democratic Party.
