# Ryan Gracie dies.



## Tez3 (Dec 15, 2007)

from www.graciemag.com

_Ryan Gracie dies
Fighter was in jail in Sao Paulo

"News to make the fighting world tremble. According to news carried by Globo TV, the black belt Ryan Gracie was found dead in the cell where he was being held at a police station in Sao Paulo after having been accused of car theft yesterday in the city of Sao Paulo. According to the Sao Paulo State Secretariat of Public Safety, Ryan was alone in the cell.

GRACIEMAG.com sympathizes with the Gracie family and should be back shortly with further information as to Ryans death."

10:24

According to the G1 news:

Ryan was sent to the 91st DP, after having toxicology exams done at the central IML at around 2:30 am. He arrived at the police station in Vila Leopoldina at 3 am. According to the officer on call of the 15th Police District police officer Daniella Ranna, where the athletes case was registered for having tried to steal a motorcycle, he was sent to the 91st DP because it is a traffic station. From there, he would have been seen to the most recommendable location.

According to the SSP, at around 7am, when policemen at the station_ _were checking the cells with their detainees, they found the fighter fallen in a corner. They entered and confirmed that he was dead. At around 10 am, coroners were already at the location to do the necessary exams and send the body to the institute."_


I really feel for his family.


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## Brian R. VanCise (Dec 15, 2007)

Tez3 said:


> from www.graciemag.com
> 
> _Ryan Gracie dies_
> _Fighter was in jail in Sao Paulo_
> ...


 
Terrible news for the Gracie family.  All my thoughts and prayers are heading their way!


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## arnisador (Dec 15, 2007)

How unfortunate!


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## MA-Caver (Dec 15, 2007)

.


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## Cruentus (Dec 15, 2007)

Very sad. Keep us up to date on this story. I am really curious to hear what the cause of death was.


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## Xue Sheng (Dec 15, 2007)

.


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## stone_dragone (Dec 15, 2007)

.
:asian:


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## tellner (Dec 15, 2007)

Drat.


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## Tez3 (Dec 16, 2007)

There's no good reports I'm afraid.

From Wrestling Observer


Quote:
Ryan Gracie was found dead in a prison cell this morning at the age of 33. Preliminary belief is he died of a heart attack. Gracie was arrested on Friday after allegedly stealing a car at knife point after punching a 76-year-old man who owned the car and stabbing him in the hand with a kitchen knife. He crashed the car into a phone booth and then a road rail. He tried to steal a van, but the driver was able to speed away. He then tried to steal a motorcycle. The driver hit Gracie over the head with his helmet and a group of people held him down and called police. Gracie, the so-called black sheep of the movie, was a veteran of Pride Fighting Championships. He had taken both antidepressant and anti-psychotic drugs at the time of his arrest. Before dying, he was drug tested and they found cocaine, crack and marijuana in his system. 

From CBS news:


Quote:
The 33-year-old Gracie, who competed in several international ultimate fighting events, was arrested Friday after allegedly stealing a car at knifepoint, crashing it into a concrete wall and then trying to steal a motorcycle, police inspector Paulo Bittencourt said. 

Bittencourt, head of Sao Paulo's 91st police district where Gracie was locked up in an individual cell, said that during the morning roll call Gracie did not respond. 

"When I went to his cell, I saw him lying on his mattress," Bittencourt said. "He had no pulse and a reddish liquid was coming out of his mouth. It seems to me he died of a heart attack." 

The Agencia Estado news service quoted Gracie's physician Sabino Ferreira de Farias as saying that, at the time of his arrest, the fighter was taking antidepressants and anti-psychotic medication. 

Globo TV said Farias tested Gracie's urine shortly after his arrest and found traces of cocaine, crack and marijuana. Bittencourt would not comment on the unconfirmed reports, and Farias could not be contacted at his drug rehabilitation clinic


If anyone speaks Portuguese (I don't I'm afraid) here is a link to a Braziliasn news site.


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## Doc_Jude (Dec 16, 2007)

Tez3 said:


> antidepressant and anti-psychotic drugs... cocaine, crack and marijuana...



I don't know what to say. I definitely don't feel bad for him. I feel sorry for his family, though, the Gracies seem to be stand-up folks for the most part, besides Royce's steroid issues.


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## punisher73 (Dec 16, 2007)

> I don't know what to say. I definitely don't feel bad for him. I feel sorry for his family, though, the Gracies seem to be stand-up folks for the most part


 
I agree, condolences to the family for their loss.  

But, this happens everyday and no one feels sorry for the criminals that it happens to.  Why is it that because he's a celebrity fighter it changes things.


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## Tez3 (Dec 16, 2007)

The reason I posted it up on here was because I felt that while it was very sad for his family it wasn't really right to post it as a memorium. I think sometime being a 'celebrity' seems to skew peoples thinking, a criminal is a criminal, they don't get excused just because they are famous. I do feel for his family though,it's a sheer waste of a life .


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## Obi Wan Shinobi (Dec 19, 2007)

What a shame and needless waste of life and talent....I do have the Gracie family and Ryan's soul in my prayers. Its unfortunate to die at such a young age.


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## jim777 (Dec 19, 2007)

While this is indeed very sad for his family and friends, I don't really understand the animosity towards someone obviously having big problems, possibly completely beyond their control. Doctors generally don't hand out anti-depressants to just anyone, and anti-psychotics are usually reserved for people with fairly profound emotional issues. I'm not condoning robbing and stabbing people here (obviously), but it seems on the face of it that Ryan Gracie had a deeply troubled life and likely a rather miserable day to day existence. I've seen depression destroy good friends of mine and it's terribly sad to see; I can't imagine a friend or family member battling depression _and_ psychosis.


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## Doc_Jude (Dec 19, 2007)

jim777 said:


> While this is indeed very sad for his family and friends, I don't really understand the animosity towards someone obviously having big problems, possibly completely beyond their control. Doctors generally don't hand out anti-depressants to just anyone, and anti-psychotics are usually reserved for people with fairly profound emotional issues. I'm not condoning robbing and stabbing people here (obviously), but it seems on the face of it that Ryan Gracie had a deeply troubled life and likely a rather miserable day to day existence. I've seen depression destroy good friends of mine and it's terribly sad to see; I can't imagine a friend or family member battling depression _and_ psychosis.



My question is, why is someone like this participating in MMA competition? I would think that a more calming activity would be in order to balance such psychological issues. Maybe he should have tried Tai Chi.


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## jim777 (Dec 19, 2007)

I think someone with issues needs to fit in and see there's a chance for a normal life, not find something to put even more distance between themselves and the people that surround them. I think if you're a Gracie, it's JJ or.....I don't know...piano maybe?


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## Doc_Jude (Dec 19, 2007)

jim777 said:


> I think someone with issues needs to fit in and see there's a chance for a normal life, not find something to put even more distance between themselves and the people that surround them. I think if you're a Gracie, it's JJ or.....I don't know...piano maybe?



Well, I don't think that it helps when your family is almost entirely professional fighters, who kick, punch, and choke each other all day long.


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## SensibleManiac (Dec 19, 2007)

Really sad, I guess it's easy to judge.
My thoughts go out to him and his family.

Many years ago, while working security at a hospital. A guy in his 30's came in, complaining that someone had done black magic on him and he was dying of cancer caused by parasites.

It turned out he had crashed his truck, tried to steal another car, crashed that too and took a taxi to the hospital.
I can't forget how completely normal he appeared and yet how deranged he was.
 Sickness is sickness not criminality. It's sooo easy to judge.

Just truly sad.


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## Tez3 (Dec 20, 2007)

It may be easy to judge but you also have to see both sides of this. It's fine to feel compassion for someone who is mentally ill, illness is illness and no ones fault. Actually doctors do readily hand out anti depressants, like sweets in a lot of cases and we don't know why Ryan was diagnosed psychotic perhaps it was because of drug use? We don't know that he was miserable or troubled, we do know however he was found to have used drugs. I believe this wasn't the first criminal incident he'd be involved in. 
It would be better to _reserve_ judgement rather than complain people are judging harshly.  How traumatic it must have been for the old man Ryan allegedly attacked and stabbed? And for other of ryan's victims? We'd be better waiting till more facts come to light first.


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## donald (Dec 20, 2007)

punisher73 said:


> But, this happens everyday and no one feels sorry for the criminals that it happens to.
> 
> I am sorry, but you are incorrect about your above statement. I do feel "sorry" for the criminal as well. They have no more chances to repent of their sins, and therefore will stand before GOD covered in the filth of their sins. I am sure if they considered eternity at all they thought that they would some day make things right with The Lord Jesus, but like so many of us some day never comes to our eternal detrement. May The Lord Jesus comfort all concerned.
> 1stJohn1:9


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## KempoGuy06 (Dec 20, 2007)

if the reports are true and he had all those drugs in his system, to me it sounds like he hit the bottom. Drug use and abuse is a terrible thing. Ive been down the road...way down. Its hard to claw your way back. 

My prayers go out to his family. I hope that people will not judge the them all based on the actions of one :asia

B


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## jim777 (Dec 20, 2007)

Tez3 said:


> It would be better to _reserve_ judgement rather than complain people are judging harshly.


 
Indeed. Better still would have been to reserve judgement before judging harshly in the first place.  And I wasn't complaining that people were judging this dead man harshly, I merely stated I was surprised to see it.


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## SensibleManiac (Dec 20, 2007)

Tez3 said:


> It may be easy to judge but you also have to see both sides of this. It's fine to feel compassion for someone who is mentally ill, illness is illness and no ones fault. Actually doctors do readily hand out anti depressants, like sweets in a lot of cases *and we don't know why Ryan was diagnosed psychotic perhaps it was because of drug use?* We don't know that he was miserable or troubled, we do know however he was found to have used drugs. I believe this wasn't the first criminal incident he'd be involved in.
> It would be better to _reserve_ judgement rather than complain people are judging harshly. *How traumatic it must have been for the old man Ryan allegedly attacked and stabbed?* And for other of ryan's victims? We'd be better waiting till more facts come to light first.


 

No one appears to be saying he was the greatest man alive or even a great man, but he has passed and that is sad.
I can think of very few people who deserve to die this way, in jail.
And yes I do feel sorry if anyone else was victimized in this situation, but we don't have all the facts yet.

The two statements in bold above should be clarified, because I don't understand them, thanks.


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## Tez3 (Dec 21, 2007)

SensibleManiac said:


> No one appears to be saying he was the greatest man alive or even a great man, but he has passed and that is sad.
> I can think of very few people who deserve to die this way, in jail.
> And yes I do feel sorry if anyone else was victimized in this situation, but we don't have all the facts yet.
> 
> The two statements in bold above should be clarified, because I don't understand them, thanks.


 
Well I'm afraid I don't understand why you don't understand them? it's two very simple questions. All i was saying is that we can't judge anything as we don't know anything. I think you have misread *all* of my post actually.
 I was answering jim777 post where he was asking why so much animosity towards Ryan which I don't think there was.


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## jim777 (Dec 21, 2007)

There are some stories that really just hit home with you just how lucky most of us are in our daily lives; how much we have and how much we take for granted no matter how our days can seem at any given moment. I think is one of those stories. My heart goes out to all the people and families involved in this tragic episode.


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## SensibleManiac (Dec 24, 2007)

Very well said Jim, and Tez sorry I don't understand because those statements make no sense. Reread your statements again and you'll see.


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## Tez3 (Dec 25, 2007)

SensibleManiac said:


> Very well said Jim, and Tez sorry I don't understand because those statements make no sense. Reread your statements again and you'll see.


 
I think you must have difficulty with British English!
Ok take the 'and' away 
"*We don't know why Ryan was diagnosed psychotic.....           perhaps it was because of drug use?"*

*How traumatic it must have been for the old man *_that _*Ryan allegedly attacked and stabbed?* 

In my country the alledged must be written in when someone has been accuse of a crime but not gone to trial yet. You run the risk of libel/slander charges. Though you can't slander/libel a dead person it's still just common decency to write it in.


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## jim777 (Dec 27, 2007)

Sounds like Ryan may have died from his Doctor's malpractice:

"Psychiatrist Dr. Sabino Ferreira de Faria was called by Gracie's wife after his arrest and attended to him at the jail. 

The doctor has allegedly stated that he administered the following drugs to Gracie to calm him down:  Haldol (a powerful antipsychotic), Fenergan (which has a side effect of sleepiness), Topamax (for Migraines), Dienpax (tranquilizers), and OmniPlex (relaxant). The doctor remained with Gracie most of the night, and was notified of Gracie's death as he was returning home. The cause of death has not yet been released by the medical examiner."
(from http://www.bloodyelbow.com/story/2007/12/16/16357/786)

and this, from http://ufcvideoz.com/2007/12/19/cause-of-ryan-gracies-death-questioned/
"Called by the family, psychiatrist Sabino de Farias Ferreira Neto accompanied the fighter and took a urine sample, which indicated the presence of drugs in Gracie&#8217;s body. The doctor said he provided at least six types of medication. Gracie, who was alone in his cell, was found dead Saturday around 8 a.m.
The Condepe (State Council on the Rights of the Human Person) questioned the procedure of the police to allow a doctor to monitor the fighter at the station. The Gracie family has said it will inquire about the doctor and the State over the death.
&#8220;Doctor Sabino is crazy, a murderer,&#8221; Flávia Gracie, sister of the fighter, said in statements to the Brazilian press. &#8220;I told him to stop giving medicine to my brother. He said it was to prevent Ryan from being aggressive at the station. I argued that too much medicine would hurt, and the doctor replied that any remedy hurt, even aspirin.&#8221;
&#8220;Ryan, although wrong, had to be arrested and charged for crimes,&#8221; said Robson Gracie, Ryan&#8217;s father. &#8220;But his death is another thing. I will inquire about that quack doctor.&#8221;
Neto denied that the cocktail of drugs he gave Gracie is responsible for his death.
&#8220;As I told a colleague, the dose that was applied was so little,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I have the greatest regret for what happened, but I fought against this with all I know.&#8221;
Neto said he understands the pain of the family when they announced that they would inquire about him.
&#8220;It is a right of anyone,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I understand and respect the emotional experience for them at this time.&#8221;
The Condepe also wants to investigate the conduct of police and the Medical Legal Institute because Gracie was not taken to an emergency room, even though he had &#8220;suffered blows to the head and was under the influence of drugs.&#8221;
Gracie was buried Sunday in Rio de Janeiro at the age of 33. He was wearing a gi and his black belt."


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## matt.m (Dec 28, 2007)

:asian:


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## JadecloudAlchemist (Dec 30, 2007)

> Haldol (a powerful antipsychotic), Fenergan (which has a side effect of sleepiness), Topamax (for Migraines), Dienpax (tranquilizers), and OmniPlex (relaxant).


 Very powerful drugs and mixture.
and if is true that he already had Illegal drugs in his system combined with the legal drugs something is going to react. I do not think the doctor used his best judgement in giving him the cocktail if he knew he already had illegal drugs in his system. Haldol is known to cause some serious complications as well as the other meds. I feel very sorry for the Gracie family dealing with someone who is mentally ill is tough but loosing that person can be even tougher.


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## Tez3 (Dec 30, 2007)

JadecloudAlchemist said:


> Very powerful drugs and mixture.
> and if is true that he already had Illegal drugs in his system combined with the legal drugs something is going to react. I do not think the doctor used his best judgement in giving him the cocktail if he knew he already had illegal drugs in his system. Haldol is known to cause some serious complications as well as the other meds. I feel very sorry for the Gracie family dealing with someone who is mentally ill is tough but loosing that person can be even tougher.


 
I know nothing about these medications ( I suspect we'd know them under different names) but each of those, going by what they were for, sound potentially dangerous on their own!


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## Aaron Fields (Dec 30, 2007)

He stole a vehicle and was loaded on who knows what.  THat is the way things go.

Coke/crack is bad for you.

Aaron Fields


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## SensibleManiac (Jan 7, 2008)

Tez3 said:


> I think you must have difficulty with British English!
> Ok take the 'and' away
> "*We don't know why Ryan was diagnosed psychotic..... perhaps it was because of drug use?"*
> 
> ...


 
Thanks for the clarification. I guess my problem with this is that we don't really know the full story yet, either way I don't want to make excuses for Ryan's actions just feel very sorry and bad for what happened.


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## JadeDragon3 (Feb 6, 2008)

Tez3 said:


> from www.graciemag.com
> 
> _Ryan Gracie dies_
> _Fighter was in jail in Sao Paulo_
> ...


 
Yeah I feel bad for the family too, knowing that their relative was a thief and trying to steal a motorcycle.  Come on guys, what the hell is the matter with you all. He was in jail for trying to steal a motorcycle. This is a real upstanding kinda guy huh? (not). You guys/gals kill me. Just because he was a Gracie that makes it alright? He got what he deserved!!!!!


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## shesulsa (Feb 6, 2008)

JadeDragon3 said:


> Yeah I feel bad for the family too, knowing that their relative was a thief and trying to steal a motorcycle.  Come on guys, what the hell is the matter with you all. He was in jail for trying to steal a motorcycle. This is a real upstanding kinda guy huh? (not). You guys/gals kill me. Just because he was a Gracie that makes it alright? He got what he deserved!!!!!


Clearly you can't understand the pain of a family who desperately tries to help a member with their struggles only to utterly fail.  He is answering for his deeds right now as will we all someday.

Please consider how you speak of the dead.


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## ArmorOfGod (Feb 6, 2008)

JadeDragon3 said:


> He got what he deserved!!!!!


 
So he deserved to die for stealing a motorcycle?
Wow.

AoG


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## Tez3 (Feb 7, 2008)

ArmorOfGod said:


> So he deserved to die for stealing a motorcycle?
> Wow.
> 
> AoG


 
I have to echo this!
JadeDragon, if you read this thread carefully you will find nobody condones what he did. What you will find is people searching for reasons as to why did what he did and having compassion for his family. Nobody deserves to die for stealing a motorbike, they deserve a heavy fine and/or some prison time, never death. It seems clear he was a troubled young man who's surname happened to be Gracie, we won't know what caused those problems that made it all end so tragically but we don't have to be as insensitive and crass as to write as you did.


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## MMAkid1 (Feb 28, 2008)

I believe that though the man's choices were his own, his medical/emtional condition(s) were not. I am not arguing that he was a thief, or a criminal, I am saying though he strayed from the path, his family probably still cared for him and wanted to see him better. His actions are not condoneable, but I feel for his families loss. A son is a son, a brother a brother, and a friend a friend. No matter the choices they make, that can never change. My sincerest condolences.


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