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Scott Weiland Bassist Tommy Black Will Not Be Charged With Drug Possession Linked To Stone Temple Pilots’ Frontman’s Death

By Patricia Grannum
Published on: 05:05 PST, Dec 20, 2015

Scott Weiland’s bassist Tommy Black won’t be charged with drug possession linked to the death of the Stone Temple Pilots frontman, Us Weekly reports.

Black was arrested one day after Scott Weiland was found dead in a tour bus that he and Tommy Black shared. Detectives found a small quantity of cocaine in the tour bus, which led to Black’s arrest for possession of a controlled substance.

The Daily Mail reports that Tommy Black won’t be charged because it would be too difficult to prove that the drugs belonged to him.

“[The narcotics] were found in a bunk and obviously with several people residing on a bus a number of people could have potentially possessed those narcotics, so at the end of the day we decided not to pursue charges against him,” said Bloomington Deputy Police Chief Mike Hartley.

On Thursday, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner reported that Weiland, 48, had died from an accidental “mixed drug toxicity.” The official report stated that Weiland had traces of cocaine, ethanol, and methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) — a substance similar to ecstasy — in his body when he died. The report noted that Weiland died at 8:27 p.m. and that the death was accidental.

Weiland was the lead singer for renowned bands like Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver. He died suddenly on December 3, and many questioned the nature of the death.

Police searched Weiland’s bedroom after his death and detectives found a small quantity of what they thought was a controlled substance there. Tests proved that the substance was cocaine.

Soon after his death, Scott Weiland’s ex-wife, Mary Forsberg-Weiland, expressed remorse that the addiction that plagued him during his life was responsible for his death.

Weiland had been touring with his new backing band the Wildabouts and was set to play the Medina Entertainment Center in Medina, Minnesota, on the day he died.

After news of Weiland’s death became public, his Stone Temple Pilots bandmates released a mournful open letter in tribute to him. “The memories are many, and they run deep for us,” they wrote. “We know amidst the good and the bad you struggled, time and time again. It’s what made you who you were. Part of that gift was part of your curse.”

According to Rolling Stone, Velvet Revolver also posted a tribute to Scott Weiland on bassist Duff McKagan’s Facebook page. “We experienced a good chunk of life with Scott and, even in his darkest times, we all had hope and love for him,” they wrote. “His artistry will live on, of that, there is no doubt.”

Weiland’s former bandmates weren’t the only ones posting tributes, other famous rockers did as well.

Smashing Pumpkins lead singer Billy Corgan also posted a tribute to the singer on his band’s official website. “If you asked me who I truly believed were the great voices of our generation, I’d say it were he, Layne [Staley], and Kurt [Cobain],” he wrote. “So it goes beyond tragedy to say it is we who lost them, and not the other way round.”

[Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images]

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