Family and friends of Andrew Koppel are mourning the 40-year-old's death after an apparent drinking binge over the weekend. A family friend told the Post that he had "many substance-abuse issues," while another said, "What's really puzzling the family is why he ended up where he did. It was a Sunday and holiday weekend. Why was he drinking in Hell's Kitchen and why would he end up in Washington Heights?"
Koppel, a former attorney for the city's Housing Authority and the son of broadcast journalist Ted Koppel, had been living in the Rockaways with his girlfriend Ilona Lieberman and their daughter at Libermans' parents home (the Post also notes that Lieberman was "visibly pregnant" yesterday). On Saturday, Koppel befriended another drinker, Russell Wimberly, at Smith's Bar in Midtown. The pair ended up bar hopping all day, when, the Daily News reports they "ended up at the dingy apartment of Wimberly's friend Belinda Caban on 180th St. at Audubon Ave. Because Koppel could barely hold himself up, he was led to Caban's bed. He fell asleep quickly and snored loudly. Hours later, he was pale and silent" and not breathing. He was pronounced dead later.
The News details some of his past run-ins, ranging from DUI and assault of a senatorial aide. One man who saw Koppel drinking at a bar in the Rockaways last year told the Post, "He was out of his mind. He was drunk... He was drunk to the point where the owner and the bartender had to tell him, 'You're done. Leave the bike here,' but he wouldn't listen" and drunkenly drove off." And Caban believes that Koppel was on something else, "I think he did take [drugs] because he was too out of it... Tell his father I am very sorry. I apologize that this happened to him. I was just a person who was trying to help."
Koppel's parents issued a statement, "Our son, Andrew, was a brilliant, caring man, whose loss we will mourn for the rest of our lives," and are planning to bury him near their home in Maryland.
