Scott Weiland's bassist arrested after police say cocaine found on tour bus where singer died
The Associated Press | Posted: December 5, 2015 4:53 AM | Last Updated: December 5, 2015
Former Stone Temple Pilots frontman was found dead Thursday night, 2 nights after playing in Toronto
Police in Minnesota say they found cocaine in the bedroom of the tour bus where former Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland was found dead, and have arrested his bassist pending drug possession charges.
Police in the city of Bloomington said they found the "small quantity" of cocaine in the bedroom while executing a search warrant on the bus Friday following Weiland's death.
Investigators said they found another small amount of cocaine elsewhere in the bus in an area known to be occupied by Thomas Delton Black, the bassist for the Wildabouts, the band Weiland was touring and performing with.
Black, 47, from Studio City, Calif., was arrested for possession of a controlled substance and is being held pending charges, police said in a statement.
Authorities released no additional information on Weiland's cause of death, saying it would be released by the local coroner.
Friday's police statement confirmed Weiland had died and said his band's tour bus was parked in a lot across the street from the Mall of America in Bloomington, a city about 15 kilometres south of Minneapolis.
Google Street View shows the parking lot as part of a strip-mall complex containing a Country Inn & Suites hotel and an T.G.I. Fridays restaurant.
Weiland, whose powerful vocals fuelled megaselling bands Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver all the while as he maintained a very public battle with drug addiction, was 48.
A statement on his social media pages indicated that he died in his sleep Thursday night while on tour with the Wildabouts. The statement asked for privacy for members of his family.
Weiland and the Wildabouts played Adelaide Hall in Toronto on Tuesday, the most recent date before a planned show in Medina, Minn., on Thursday.
Weiland fronted the band Stone Temple Pilots, formed in San Diego with brothers Dean and Robert DeLeo and Erik Kretz, until 2013. While sometimes overshadowed among critics by the likes of Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, the band was a stalwart presence on alternative and rock radio in the 1990s..