A terrifying video shows a college student's final moments before he collapsed and died while celebrating his graduation at a Connecticut casino.
Ethan Bherwani, 22, of Long Island was with two friends at the Mohegan Sun Casino in May 2021 when he made the devastating decision to buy cocaine from a dealer in the bathroom.
Unbeknownst to him, the cocaine had been mixed with the deadly drug fentanyl, causing him to fall at a blackjack table moments later.
Surveillance footage shows him playing cards while wearing a hat and mask before losing consciousness and falling to the floor, where he remained motionless.
His friends were gone because they had already gone to bed. You can see other people glancing at him, but they are still playing cards. Two other bystanders then run up to him to try to help, but the staff member appears to wave them off. The ambulance call took five minutes and 11 minutes for paramedics to arrive and perform life-saving measures.
Ethan was ultimately transported to the hospital, but died nine days later on May 27, 2021 – just days before his graduation ceremony at Baruch College in New York.
His devastated father, 55-year-old Kamal Bherwani, has spent the last three years fighting for justice after it emerged that the drug dealer who sold his son deadly cocaine, Jerrard Santiago, was a large resident of the area and had been banned from the area for years before. to the casino.
A terrifying video shows a student's final moments before he collapsed and died while celebrating his graduation at a Connecticut casino
Ethan Bherwani, 22, died of an accidental fentanyl overdose. This photo was taken just weeks before his death in May 2021
Ethan, who was gifted in math and science and had studied business journalism at university, was scheduled to study law after graduation.
But his father Kamal said: “We knew there was no hope when the doctor told us his brain was dead.”
Later, he “gave life to three people” by donating his organs, he added.
After his son's death, Ethan's father, a global businessman working under former Mayor Mike Bloomberg, began investigating the events that led to his son's death.
It was during the investigation that he learned that Santiago, 44, was a prolific drug dealer with a criminal past who was permanently banned from the Mohegan Sun casino in 2017 for violent behavior.
During this time, Mohegan Sun police issued Santiago a trespassing notice and were told that if he returned to the casino, he would be arrested.
However, according to a police statement, Santiago managed to get through casino security seven times between 2020 and 2022.
Records show there were three visits in 2020, two in 2021 – including the day Ethan died – and two more in 2022.
“Mohegan Sun puts money before the safety of its customers. These are the dates Mohegan Sun police reported, but there are probably dozens more,” Kamal said.
He also revealed that when Mohegan Sun police detained Santiago at the casino after Ethan collapsed, the drug dealer claimed he didn't know who he was.
– They never checked his identity. They could have arrested him immediately and we wouldn't have had to go through the last three years,” Kamal said.
Finally, on March 30, 2023, almost two years passed before Santiago was arrested.
Describing how Santiago was caught, Kamal explained that a trusted friend of the jailed trafficker became an informant in exchange for leniency.
“They installed a car with audio and video monitoring and organized two drug purchases,” he said.
Investigators made a controlled purchase of fentanyl and heroin from Santiago on February 3, 2023 and again on February 14, 2023 for fentanyl and cocaine.
Kamal added: “The Drug Enforcement Agency has done a phenomenal job.”
On January 24 of this year, Santiago pleaded guilty to two counts of possession with intent to distribute and distributing a controlled substance.
During evidentiary hearings held in March and April into Ethan's death, the family was finally shown footage of the events in the early morning hours of May 18.
It was surreal. Everyone told me not to watch it, including the prosecutor's office, but my family and I wanted to see the last minutes of our family member,” Kamal said.
“It was terrible to see no one help my son,” he continued. “It was beyond shocking that no one even tried to help, whether they were trained or not, and then they detained two other people who actually tried to help them.”
Ethan, who was gifted in math and science and had studied business journalism at university, was scheduled to go to law school after graduation
Jerrard Santiago was a prolific drug dealer who had been kicked out of a casino years earlier
A social media post made by Santiago shortly before his arrest
Kamal told DailyMail.com that all medical data shows that it is not as visible as Narcan ever was.
He added that a medical expert present at the trial testified that if Ethan had been given Narcan, he would be alive.
At the end of the trial, Judge Meyer concluded that Santiago knowingly distributed the drugs that caused Ethan's overdose and death.
Court documents show that on May 18, 2021, Santiago sold cocaine laced with fentanyl to a 22-year-old man in a Mohegan Sun casino restroom. The buyer overdosed on the casino floor and died approximately 11 days later.
On September 24, Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Santiago would serve eight years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and Mohegan Tribal Police and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ross Weingarten and Christopher W. Schmeisser.
Bherwani has since founded a nonprofit organization called Pre-Air Conditioning to help raise awareness of the dangers of fentanyl.
“It is important to emphasize the difference between overdose and poisoning. The judge did,” he explained.
“Many people believe that all of these deaths are caused by people addicted to opioids. But that's not the case.
He explained that he had no knowledge of any cocaine his son had previously used.
“I really blame Ethan for doing something he promised he would never do, which is hard drugs. Many people who have read or heard this story feel that I am not holding him accountable. I did so and he paid for his mistake with his life. There is no higher penalty.
“But Santiago is also liable, as federal courts have found, and so is Mohegan Sun.”
Kamal added:The winners here will be the lives saved in the future. Many of them will not even know that the tragedy was avoided.
My first reaction was anger, but anger is toxic and leads nowhere. Anger covers the pain. I had to work through the anger to overcome the pain and realize this issue,” he continued. “Every decision I made was guided by what Ethan would want from me.”
Fentanyl deaths are reportedly falling after reaching astronomical levels for the first time in a decade, but experts warn the drug simply lacks people to kill after approximately 320,000 Americans have been killed in 10 years.
Last year, about 75,000 people in the U.S. were killed by the deadly drug, down slightly from the previous year, and deaths fell annually for the first time since 2011.
Ethan and Kamal in a group photo celebrating the young man's high school graduation
Ethan pictured with his family – father, half-sister Natalia, brother, stepmother, Sabita at the Monterey Bay Aquarium
Jeff Hamilton, president and CEO of Mohegan Sun, said: “Mohegan is a family-owned company that has taken comprehensive steps over the years to keep our customers safe throughout our property.
“Mohegan has 24/7 police, paramedics and Narcan-equipped paramedics on site because at Mohegan Sun, our guests come first.
“We are saddened by the death of this young man and appreciate and support the extensive efforts of leaders and other groups to curb such a serious problem.
“Since then, we have worked closely with external law enforcement agencies to support their work in every way, including our recent court testimony advocating for a more severe penalty for the person who illegally supplied drugs in connection with this incident.
“The fentanyl epidemic causes too many tragedies every year. This is a nationwide epidemic that must be confronted at every turn.”
