Early Sunday, Tommy Hanson was asleep and snoring in a basement room in his friends’ Coweta County home. One of the homeowners went downstairs early to let Hanson’s barking dogs outside, she told a 911 operator.
It was one of those dogs that sent Clare Jordan back downstairs, where she noticed Hanson didn’t look right.
“I just came down here again because one of his dogs was barking and I wanted to make sure everything was OK,” Jordan told the operator. “And he just didn’t look right.”
Jordan’s frantic call to 911, released Friday, offered few clues to what may have caused the former Braves pitcher to lose consciousness and later die, the following night, at Piedmont Hospital. But it detailed the horrifying minutes after Hanson was found, and his friends’ efforts to revive him.
Hanson, 29, was spending the weekend with his friend, Brandon Bond, when he was found unresponsive Sunday morning. It was Bond’s girlfriend, Jordan, who called 911 to report Hanson’s face was discolored and his hands were cold.
The 911 operator instructed Jordan to begin chest compressions on the 6-foot-6 Hanson, and Jordan is heard sobbing while following the directions.
“Keep pushing, OK?” the operator said.
Jordan told the operator she knew Hanson had been drinking alcohol the night before, but that he appeared fine earlier that morning when she went downstairs.
A Coweta County sheriff’s deputy and paramedics arrived at the Potts Road home, near Newnan, within minutes Sunday. Hanson was first taken to Piedmont Newnan Hospital and then Piedmont Hospital’s main campus in Atlanta, where he died late Monday.
A preliminary report released by the sheriff's office listed "overdose" as the possible crime, but had no details. On Wednesday, the sheriff's office said there was no indication or suspicion of foul play.
"While at the emergency room the reporting officer was part of a conversation with emergency room personnel which led this officer to believe an overdose was a possibility," the sheriff's office said in an emailed statement. "Law enforcement acknowledges this will have to be determined by medical personnel as to the cause of death."
The GBI conducted an autopsy on Hanson, but the results will not be released until toxicology testing is completed, which could take up to 12 weeks.
Hanson’s funeral was held Friday morning at Cathedral of Christ the King on Peachtree Road in Atlanta. Among the friends and family members attending were several former and current Braves players, including Freddie Freeman, Brian McCann and Kris Medlen. Former Braves manager Bobby Cox, current manager Fredi Gonzalez, pitching coach Roger McDowell, former general manager Frank Wren and current general manager John Coppolella also attended.
— Staff writer Jeff Schultz contributed to this article.
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