Rob Fox
A 36-year-old Polish welder living in Peterborough in the United Kingdom was found dead in his apartment from an apparent caffeine overdose last December, authorities have concluded.
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According to the coroner, Lukasz Sandelewski had a blood caffeine concentration of 282 micrograms of caffeine per milliliter. Any level over 80 micrograms is considered lethal. Investigators say that Sandelewski’s room was littered with caffeinated energy drinks at the time of his death.
Authorities have said that while it is clear that Sandelewski deliberately consumed some high though as to be determined amount of caffeinated drinks it does not appear that he consumed them with the intention to end his life. The death was ruled a ‘verdict of misadventure’ — or unintentional overdose — and not a suicide.
Sandelewski’s roommates told investigators that the night before his death they heard Sandelewski yelling and talking loudly on the phone from the hours of 1:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. They claimed that the Polish national was a regular and fairly heavy drinker and had been drinking the night in question. According to the autopsy, Sandelewski was intoxicated the night of his death but not significantly so.
The evening of the next day, Sandelewski’s mother contacted her son’s roommates and asked them to check on her son. It was after Sandelewski’s mother’s call that they found their roommate face down on the floor and unresponsive. Emergency services were called to the home and quickly determined that there were no external injuries that would indicate foul play were on Sandelewski’s body, and thus ruled out any potential criminal activity that might have lead to his death.
Neither police, the man’s family, or his roommates could provide a reason as to why he would have been consuming so much caffeine at the time of his death.
