The sister of a New Zealand man who died in early March revealed that he began shaking and acting “possessed” after drinking a beer that was laced with meth.
Police said Aiden Sagala “innocently sat down for a beer after work,” according to the New Zealand Herald.
The 21-year-old died March 7 at Auckland City Hospital five days after drinking the drug-tainted beer.
His sister, Angela Sagala, described her younger brother as a happy, intelligent and funny guy. He had been living with her and her partner after getting a new job, according to Newshub, a New Zealand news program.
On March 2, she had picked him up from work and then dropped him off at home. She was out grabbing dinner when she got a frantic call from her partner to return to the house.
By the time she got there, her brother had collapsed and seemed to be having a seizure.
“He wasn’t himself. It looked like he was possessed,” Angela told Newshub. “He was, like, on the ground and was trying to fidget with his nose and then he turned to me and was like, ‘Sis, I’m dying.’ “
Angela, who is a doctor, attempted to stabilize her brother until an ambulance arrived.
“I was managing his pulse and making sure he had a pulse. And I was just like, ‘Stay with me baby brother,’ ” she said. “Until all of a few seconds when his hands became blue, his lips became blue in an instant, and I performed CPR.”
She managed to keep her brother alive and he was admitted to Auckland City Hospital where he died five days later.
Angela said that she was baffled when hospital records showed that her brother’s urine had tested positive for meth.
Police later tested the beer that Sagala had gotten from a co-worker and found that some of the 24 cans contained meth while others were only beer.
“The can that he had drunk was just meth,” Angela said.
After Sagala’s death, police investigated and in a raid found pallets of Honey Bear House Beer suspected to be laced with meth. Police have made two arrests in connection to the beer but the investigation is still ongoing.
Losing Sagala has been devastating for the family, Angela said.
“It’s the last thing you want to do is go choose a plot … to bury the baby of the family,” said Sagala’s other sister, Rachel.
Both sisters said that their brother was a hero since the police have removed the allegedly contaminated cans from the household as well as put out a public safety warning.
“This 21-year-old kid, he saved our lives and it sucks because he hasn’t lived his life,” said Angela. “I don’t really care what people say, my brother died a hero. I’m sitting here because of him.”
