Dane Brown, who survived a 2019 drug overdose and called for an investigation into Democratic donor and activist Ed Buck, was found dead on a South Los Angeles sidewalk last week.
Brown’s call to the police and testimony helped lead the jury to convict Buck of luring a young, Black man to a West Hollywood apartment for nearly a decade to “party and play” them that involved sex and heavy drug use. Two people died in Buck’s apartment in 2017 and 2019 from drug overdoses.
“I don’t think (Brown) really understands the impact,” said Jasmyne Cannick, a political consultant, writer and Brown friend.
Brown was found dead on a sidewalk in South Los Angeles on Nov. 6, according to the LA County medical examiner’s office. The cause of death has not been determined.
The people who lure Buck’s apartment, who are often homeless and addicted, are plied with drugs when they meet and often there is extra money if they allow Buck to inject drugs. If they refuse, Buck sometimes refuses to pay.
For years, victims and lawyers tried to call attention to the dangerous encounter in Buck’s apartment. But not until Brown was able to escape from Buck’s apartment, staggered to the gas station after being injected with three doses of methamphetamine and called 911, Buck was arrested. Buck was eventually charged and convicted of supplying drugs to Gemmel Moore, 26, and Timothy Dean, 55, who died of overdoses at their homes in 2017 and 2019. They were sentenced to 30 years in prison.
After Buck’s conviction, Cannick said Brown was working on a project and found an apartment that he was proud to share with friends.
He insisted on taking her out to dinner at a barbecue restaurant on La Brea Avenue to pay her for helping him.
But Brown continued to struggle with mental health and drug addiction, he said. He lost the apartment and will be lost at times.
“He tried, he tried really hard,” he said. “Ultimately, it’s a bigger struggle than we can handle.”
Cannick said Brown was found dead near Vernon and McKinley streets, across the street from the apartment where he was temporarily staying.
Buck’s two-week trial highlighted the dangerous world of sex work, where wealthy, influential people exploit addicted black men.
“My heart is broken,” Cannick said in a video speaking about his friend’s death. “Dane, who I know very well, is really struggling and trying to get his life together after Ed Buck.”
Brown, Cannick said, loved to cook and play games and referred to himself as a geek.
“When the camera goes away, he’s just another black guy in LA trying to make it, and that’s not easy, especially in a city like Los Angeles,” he said. “I am very sad for his family, for his friends, for everyone who worked with him, who knew him, who championed and supported him.”
Brown’s decision to contact the authorities, and ultimately to testify in Buck’s trial, was a pivotal moment that helped lead to the conviction of Democratic donors, and for other victims to come forward, said one of the lawyers, Nana Gyamfi.
“Dane was critical of the case,” he said.
Brown’s safety and willingness to talk to law enforcement helped ensure the case didn’t go unnoticed, Gyamfi said. Her involvement helped her persuade other victims to come forward and testify.
“It got away from him – he was actually the one who opened the tape,” he said. “It was an escape, and he approached the police if he could not ignore it.”
Brown also filed a lawsuit against Buck, alleging sexual battery, assault, hate violence, emotional distress and human trafficking. The case is set to go to trial in February.
According to the lawsuit, since Buck’s arrest, Brown has been continuously homeless and suffering from medical conditions.
The lawsuit alleges that Buck caused Brown to overdose on methamphetamine over a week in September 2019, including the one that ultimately led to Buck’s arrest.
Brown lived with Buck for three months and Buck “would supply and intravenously inject methamphetamine into Mr. Brown on a daily basis,” the lawsuit alleges.
According to court records, attorneys for Brown plan to continue the lawsuit against Buck and are seeking to name a representative to proceed.
Gyamfi and Cannick said they had lost contact with Brown around August. Although they often kept in touch by phone and text, the messages stopped coming for a while.
His death was difficult, Gyamfi said, because Brown had shown him to constantly fight to improve himself and, in the most difficult circumstances, to survive.
“He was fighting for his life, and that’s how this case unfolded,” he said. “He escaped the jaws of death only to die, perhaps, alone on the sidewalk – one of the six people who die every day in the city of Los Angeles unhoused. He has a desire to live.
