Police Say Colts Owner Jim Irsay Had Suspected Overdose in December, per Report

Emergency responders found the Indianapolis owner unresponsive and with difficulty breathing.

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay was found in his Carmel, Ind., home unresponsive and having difficulty breathing after an emergency call in December, according to a local police report. 

Records obtained by Indianapolis’s Fox59 show that police were called to a residence at 4:30 a.m. ET on Dec. 8 after someone said they found a man unconscious on a bathroom floor. He was moved to a bed, showed abnormal breathing with a weak pulse, was cold to the touch, and turning blue. That man was identified in the report as Irsay, 64. 

Colts owner Irsay was found unresponsive after an emergency call to his home in December :: Darron Cummings/AP

“At this time, it is unknown what Mr. Irsay had ingested prior to our arrival,” an officer wrote in the report. (Irsay’s prescribed medications were listed in the report, but redacted in documents released to the public.) According to Fox59, police logged the incident as an “overdose.”

Attempts by police to revive Irsay included a pain stimulus and a medication used to reverse opiate overdoses. The report stated that officers were preparing to use a defibrillator when paramedics arrived and took Irsay to a nearby hospital. 

The Colts released a statement Wednesday and referred to treatment Irsay was receiving for a respiratory illness that was announced last week and caused him to miss a scheduled appearance in Los Angeles.

Colts statement on owner Jim Irsay:

Mr. Irsay continues to recover from his respiratory illness. We will have no further comment on his personal health, and we continue to ask that Jim and his family's privacy be respected.

— Mike Chappell (@mchappell51) January 17, 2024

“Mr. Irsay continues to recover from his respiratory illness,” the statement said. “We will have no further comment on his personal health, and we continue to ask that Jim and his family’s privacy be respected.” 

Irsay admitted in a November 2023 interview with Andrea Kremer on HBO’s Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel that he had previously experienced an overdose from which he nearly died.