CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO HEAVY D 911 CALL
Life and death were separated by a matter of seconds for Heavy D, who stopped breathing while a bystander was on the phone with the dispatcher — and you hear it all unfold in the frantic 911 recording obtained by TMZ.
One of the first questions the dispatcher asks … is D breathing? The caller — who’s so freaked out she can’t stop screaming — says he is.
Moments later, everything unravels … as the caller shouts that the rapper has stopped breathing, and people on the scene then scramble to perform CPR.
An ambulance arrived shortly thereafter … but it was too late. Heavy D was pronounced dead at the hospital an hour later.
CAUSE OF DEATH
Heavy D died from a pulmonary embolism caused by deep leg vein thrombosis … and a long flight back to L.A. from a Michael Jackson memorial concert may have been a contributing factor.
A pulmonary embolism is a blockage of one or more arteries in the lungs — most often caused by blood clots which travel in from other parts of he body. In Heavy’s case, the clot was formed in his legs.
Days before Heavy died, he was on a flight back from Europe, after performing at the Michael Jackson tribute concert in Wales.
Officials from the L.A. County Coroner’s Office say Heavy also suffered from heart disease, which could have been a contributing factor in his death.
The Coroner’s Office has classified the death as “natural.”
As TMZ first reported, Heavy died on November 9, 2011. He was 44 years old.
Deep leg vein thrombosis is often associated with long plane flights, in which a clot can form due to prolonged immobility.