Todd Snider ‘Assault’ Determined to Be ‘Self-Inflicted Injury’, Police Say

Saving Country Music’s investigation into the death of Todd Snider is ongoing. Anyone with further information can reach out via Saving Country Music’s Contact Page.– – – – – – –

Editor’s note: The accounts from the female band members were added to this story after initial publication. Also the term “self-inflicted” was put in quotes in the title to reflect this was a quotation from a police officer in the Salt Lake City Police Department, not an opinion expressed by Saving Country Music.

Interesting. At the beginning, I posted that I did not care if the truth never comes out. It seemed to me that Snider was having a mental health breakdown (possibly connected to substance abuse), at the very least, and I was hioping he’d get treatment and pull himself back togehter.

Snider’s death changed all that, and it’s necessary to get to the bottom of it because law enforcement and medical personnel are being accused in various quaters of being responsible for Snider’s demise.

I STILL feel like the doctors at the Salt Lake City hospital should have re-admitted Snider when he came back after being dishcarged, rather than calling the police and having him arrested. But no prosecutor is going to make a criminal case over that and (assuming that the lates police revelations are true), I don’t think his heirs have a viable lawsuit.

The first reports spoke of Snider being assaulted once. Later reports had him being assaulted twice–in different locations. That’s something of a red flag: It seems to indicate that he gave conflicting accounts in different interviews and the only way to have them was to say there were two separate occurrences.

I don’t deem this a pure hoax. In pure hoaxes–like the Tawana Brawley affair in New York State a generation ago or the more recent Jussey Smollet case in Chicago, and incidents at various universities–there are usually initial reports “hate crime” and a brutally injured victim, but later disclosure shows that the “injuries” were largely theatrical. (The Brawley case got national coverage from the get-go because the initial reports were that the group of assailants “carved” the n-word into her chest or belly It turned out that the word had been written on her skin with some sort of charcoal, came right off when she was given a wash.)

In Snider’s case he really WAS injured and required surgical staples in his head. I’ll even give him the benefit of the doubt, as offered by the police, and believe that when he came to, after being bruised and bloodied, he really did beleive that he had been attacked.

Confused. So, several band members and the tour manager found him laying on floor of bus apparently in distress that night and did nothing? They didn’t call police/ambulance until the next day?

Who is redacted and why didn’t anyone show concern for him? They just left him in the bus until the next morning. I don’t care if he was drinking or on drugs, it sounded like he needed help and several people checked on him but did nothing.

Also, if Todd thought he was too sick to fly back home and needed to be in the hospital, the manager should have gotten off the plane as well to make sure he got help. They could have at least called the cops or hospital to provide information about Todd’s injuries and mental state. I would think this is the very least they could do, and the job of a manager.

One of the tunes he performed is “Enjoy Yourself It’s Later Than You Think”
No one knows when we turn a corner like Todd did in Salt Lake and – until the advent of cell phones – we never got to be witness to it like this.
My own hunch is that at 59 – his physical back problems – riding on the bus …
…he may have overdone his meds trying to cope and lord knows, that can be the genisis of an avalanche if you’re pre-disposed… Life is precarious and fragile so let us not talk falsely now…

Definitely has whiffs of Jussie Smollet. I actually think if he had been honest about his situation, he would’ve engendered more sympathy and may have had a better outcome.

Self-inflicted is not remotely the same as accidental. Self-inflicted implies you chose to hurt yourself. Your reporting does not suggest that Todd intentionally smacked his own head open.
You should fix your headline.

“Self-inflicted” was a term an officer at the Salt Lake City Police Department used to me while speaking with them about this matter. For the record, we don’t know what happened. Todd Snider might have fallen accidentally. Todd Snider might have intentionally hurt himself. I’m not saying that he did. But with the revelations of glass potentially being in the wound, of Snider cleaning up some sort of mess he made for himself, we don’t really know what was going on in that tour bus.

The cop’s not a writer. You should put it in quotes as you did in your reply here if you’re saying it is a quote, because it infers an intent to deliberately self harm as explained above.

The police officer who used that characterization was speaking to me on “background,” meaning not for direct quote. I agree that words matter, and I respect if people disagree with the use of that term here. I understand that perspective. But I don’t know that Todd Snider was on drugs and alcohol when he was in the bus. He very well might have been off his meds, resulting in the erratic behavior. I also don’t know if he fell, was acting erratically and injured himself accidentally, or if it was some sort of intentional injury Snider did to himself. All that I know is that according to the police, the injury did not come from someone else. That is what is trying to be conveyed.

If I use a utility knife to cut a box open and it slips and I cut my hand, that’s a self-inflicted wound even though I didn’t intend to cut my hand open.

Unfortunately, I can’t confirm any information about this. He was released from jail on November 3rd, and I believe flew home to Nashville at some point afterwards.

I am seeing a local news outlet out of Salt Lake City, KSL.com saying that Todd Snider boarded a plane for Nashville on November 3rd. But I’m not sure where they got that information, and I have been unable to confirm it. This would make sense though, because the timeline of Todd’s experiences in Salt Lake City ends on November 3rd.

Why did he leave the plane?
He was complaining of pain and shortness of breath . Nothing was done at the hospital .
Apparently nothing was medically done at the jail .

To speak on the side of the hospital (not officially whatsoever-this is my opinion), I’m sure they deal with countless people trying to get “treatment” (i.e. pain killers) for things again and again. Notice how it was reported he went to at least a couple of hospitals complaining of pain (not doubting him). But they must deal with that all the time. And if he was treated and released the first time, they have to assume (in our day and age) that he wasn’t really in need.

Hate to say it, but the way people are trying to game the system these days and the way drugs have taken over so many, in the end while one should hope the hospital would be more concerned, they have to view things in real time and their past experiences.

Hospital staff are trained to recognize when someone presents themselves erratically as it could be an injury or an illness. They should have immediately realized this was a concussion and at least had him sit down for a bit under observation. When he said he needed his prescriptions, they would normally know that he was suffering withdrawal from both medications, which is a serious situation.

The cops should have checked into previous reports, and called the manager to get him some help. They had the phone number of the manager when they called earlier. They could have helped him use his card to get a hotel room.

It feels like several comments are trying to blame Todd and explain away serious problems and unprofessional behavior of everyone who is supposed to be a support system.

Yes…Todd said he had been assaulted, I believe Todd.In my opinion there was absolute negligence in regards to people who are out there doing jobs that are supposed to assist and help others (nurses, police officers, even band members, and managers too) Why did everyone turn their backs and treat him like a no good scoundrel? The security guards were insulting to him by the sounds of it I’m sure, and he obviously was in DESPERATE need of help. If they had even looked into the info Todd waa telling them in his disturbed state, (which im sure escalated when he was being shunned , ignored and not attended too. At thus point he had already been thru so much.He clearly stated, had had told them, “I need my medicine ” and ” I’m in pain, I have so much pain, my back my neck, my head,” anyone could see her needed help. His honesty in stating he needed a place to sleep..may have hurt him , but what kind of system do we have in America, that puts needy people out if a hospital room, when they really darn well need it. Not to inflame an already heated discussion of this, but I am crushed that Todd, who yes may have suffered from some addictions in the past , was desperately reaching out for someone to care. He was always caring about others…the underdogs, ruffians , lost and disillusioned and unheard.The meds he was on were not opioids or addictive , but going off of them abruptly is dangerous and can cause anxiety and distress.It all crushes me and breaks my heart that he had to go the way he did, after being a champion of others.

However, when inebriated patients arrive, they are still evaluated and treated, especially if they are injured. A head injury is a headache injury is serious business, wheter from a drunken fight, fall or accident. It usually ends up with an MRI and observation if there’s a concussion.

So that doesn’t wash, at least here in NYC, with the largest (and one of the busiest) public health system in the country and with some of the greatest private hospitals in the world, mostly non profit and by charter treating everyone. (And all having behavioral health mechanisms and offerings in addiction setvicrs).

Thanks for continuing to dig into this story. I can’t say I’m totally surprised about the nature of the head injury, but I wonder how Todd was able to get off the plane without his manager. Was the manager seated in a different location on the plane and unaware he departed the plane?

Unfortunately, I do not have that information at this time. However, I do think the detail that Todd had a ticket back to Nashville, was on the plane, and then de-boarded is an important detail to the folks who say his band just left him in Salt Lake City alone. The tour was cancelled. Everyone was sent home. Provisions were made to get Todd Snider to Nashville, and Todd jumped ship. That is why he was in Salt Lake City alone, which ultimately became a recipe for disaster. I don’t know what was done when Todd was leaving the plane, or after. But since Snider did not have a cell phone, keeping up with him would have been difficult to impossible. I’m also told Todd hated to fly, similar to cell phones. He preferred to travel by bus. He might have also been worried about pressurization and altitude on the plane flight due to his injury.

Why did they leave with his bus and medications as he was injured in a hospital?
It is dangerous to fly after an injury. He might have had a blood clot.
They knew he preferred to drive, so why take his bus home without him?

Thanks again for continuing to look into this. According to the article linked below:
“Todd was supposed to have returned to Nashville (on Nov. 2) but was still in some pain at the Salt Lake City International Airport, therefore EMS were called and responded there to medically evaluate him. Todd was transported to another Salt Lake area hospital,” the report states.”

So it doesn’t sound like he snuck off the plane without the manager knowing. And if that statement is accurate, it’s not clear if he even made it onto the plane. A tragic sequence of events, and we will likely never know all the details.

I certainly do not want to characterize it that Todd Snider “snuck off” the plane. Maybe he did, but like you said, maybe he never even boarded. I heard from numerous folks that say he did board the plane and was in his seat at some point, but they could be incorrect.

I think the most important point to understand was that Todd was at the airport with a ticket, even potentially on the plane, but ended up not flying back to Nashville. It was after this when the whole episode with the hospitals and police ensued. There was definitely an effort to get Todd back to Nashville. He was not simply abandoned by everyone with no way back home. His road manager was with him at some point at the airport. But that effort was not successful for whatever reason.

I did see that report from KSL and referenced it in another comment. I have been unable to verify that information you quoted, but since they’re a local source, they probably have better access to some of that info. This all sounds similar to stuff I have been told, though my understanding was Snider secured his own transportation from the airport (taxi/Uber maybe) to the hospital, was admitted, discharged, and then ended up on the street in Salt Lake, then in an ambulance being transported to the Holy Cross hospital where he was arrested.

To clarify, the thought that Todd “snuck off the plane” was my own attempt to rationalize how the manager apparently came back to Nashville without Todd. I didn’t intend to suggest that you had characterized it that way, and apologies if it came across that way. As others have said, in hindsight it’s apparent Todd never should’ve gone on this tour, but it sounds like he wanted one last hurrah: “I told my team that I want this tour to be the funnest one. I at least want to do it one more time.”
It also doesn’t sound like waiting to tour later was an option Todd considered:
“I wouldn’t say I’m better, and I don’t think I’m going to get better, but the last decade was hard in my personal life. In the last couple of years, it’s gotten harder, and I felt like the title. I sat out here by myself and had, like, a dark night of the soul.”

I’m hoping that a review of the last show he played in Englewood, Co gets published somewhere, what was the last song he played? Also, I listened to his last record top to bottom. Some Lyrics from the last song, The Temptation to Exist

Set 1:
1. Doublewide Blues
2. The Get Together
3. Is This Thing Working?
4. Older Women
5. Dividing the Estate (A Heart Attack)
6. It Runs Together (HWA)
7. Handsome John
8. Never Let a Day Go By
Set 2:
9. High, Lonesome and Then Some
10. Turn Me Loose (I’ll Never Be the Same)
11. Looking for a Job
12. That Ain’t Flying
13. In Between Jobs
14. That Great Pacific Garbage Patch
15. Alright Guy
16. Unforgivable (Worst Story Ever Told)
17. Stoner Yodel #2
18. Stuck on the Corner (Prelude to a Heart Attack)
19. Play a Train Song
20. I Can’t Complain
21. Just Like Overnight
Encore:
22. Like a Force of Nature
23. Juice

I will preface this again..,I am a fan of Todd Snider and write this from Rockaway Beach Oregon (Tillamook County) for those that know. The man should have never been allowed to go on this tour!!! From the beginning it seemed clear that he was in a bad way due to substances he was using. The assault made no sense, the band departing made no sense, the need for secondary care two days after the “assault” made no sense, his departing his flight makes no sense.

Many are pissed off at the SLC hospital staff, I won’t argue against that. However the man was clearly not able to be on tour! Did he stop his meds causing delirium? Was he taking other pain meds, alcohol or whatever….I won’t speculate, but one thing is clear…,the man was in a bad enough state that he should never have been traveling an no way should have been trying to perform. To try this in his state was a recipe for disaster. I expect the band mates and tour manager will have their say relatively soon. They need to speak out as they seem to be the last “friends” he had around him during the crisis which contributed to his early death!

Of course I am speculating, everyone commenting on this is speculating because we have very little information from the people he was with. The man is dead and that is a tragedy. My point is that this is a situation in which someone close to him should have pressed him to not go out on the road. Multiple issues contributed to the disaster which happened in SLC and led to his death. I do not buy the story that he was assaulted by a random stranger. His bandmates, who quickly left the scene, have not spoken and his “Tour manager” has only given small bits of information. This is not just a clear cut situation in which a man was randomly assaulted and was refused care. Todd was not in a good mental and physical state to be on the road!

I’ve been a fan since the 90’s when I first heard him, have seen him a couple times, the last at the Portland Zoo where he put on a great show. The man had tremendous talent! I also see that someone put “Todd Snider Rules” in the Vista Ridge Tunnel…for those that know. It just f’ing sucks that he has passed away. To reiterate my point…the man was in an unstable state and I only wish someone had stopped him from going on the road or at least had him agree to have someone watch over him. At the very least his “tour manager,” should have taken some responsibility to make sure he had his medication so that he did not go into a delirious state and once injured should have been by his side 24/7. When he left the plane, his manager should have left with him, gone with him to the hospital and get him checked in because clearly Todd was not able to do it himself. He could have at least booked a hotel and given him a place to crash and then evaluate him after some rest. This just sucks. The hospital should have done better, but those around him should have helped him get the care he obviously needed!

I’m not sure I’d call it a “self-inflicted” injury. That makes it sound intentional, and none of this has suggested it was intentional. Just an accident.

Also, what’s with those 3-4 people who opened the bus door but didn’t go in, supposedly after the injury occurred? It also seems the that, knowing he was injured, they drove to the Commonwealth Room then called for an ambulance from there. I would have thought they would have sought help while still at the hotel.

I just added accounts from the female members of the band to the story from the police report, just below the graphic of the surveillance video analysis. Apparently they were delivering food to Snider and checking on him. Apparently Snider was, let’s just say, acting strangely, including being loud and sounding like he was in pain according to one. But they did not enter the bus, and said he didn’t look injured.

I have no way of know this, and I don’t know if anyone does…. But was Todd immuno compromised? It seems strange that walking pneumonia killed him. And that is something that is often what kills people with underlying immuno issues such as end stage hepatitis and aids.

No reason to believe Todd Snider was immuno compromised, unless it was undiagnosed. We don’t have his whole health picture, but we’ve seen quite a bit of it and that never came up. And since it appears no autopsy will be done, we’re unlikely to know Todd’s underlying health state if/when he contracted pneumonia.

For what it’s worth, an untreated bacterial infection can turn into sepsis pretty quickly. Someone doesn’t have to have a compromised immune system for that to happen.

BTW, props to you Trigger for reporting this fully. The story that’s coming together is frankly not very flattering to Todd Snider, so Trigger could’ve easily just buried the story, or continued to stoke some of the chatter about ‘police negligence’ or ‘callous health care workers’. At the end of the day, in my experience, the majority of people in law enforcement are doing their best with whatever the circumstances happen to be, and the individuals within our broken health care system are generally doing the same (although it is amazing how just one shithead individual in either law enforcement or a health care setting can ruin the whole thing). I guess I have some amount of sympathy for Snider, but then again, I’d challenge anywhere here going to the mat to defend the guy to go get wasted on drugs and alcohol, then expose yourself to your female coworkers and see how that goes for you. He was a victim in the sense that there were a group of people around him enabling (and profiting) off of his bad behavior, but at what point are you no longer responsible for your own actions? It’s a shitty story in every respect.

Reading Trigger’s article didn’t make it seem that Snider had purposefully exposed himself to women in his band. Getting undressed and passing out partway through is not the same as pulling off your pants and waving your dick around in front of women on purpose.

To add to this, spinal stenosis can make a simple matter of getting your damn pants and underwear on a painful ordeal, even if you’re properly medicated. Doesn’t seem like it was an intentional exposure.

I will say this about the Salt Lake City Police Department. All of the information contained in this article was sitting in a file for over three weeks. When the tour was initially canceled and the statement went out on November 3rd that Todd Snider was the victim of a “violent assault,” I was basically in constant contact with Salt Lake City police. They were emphatic that there was no assault, no assault investigation, they had nothing to do with any of this, and it all happened in the jurisdiction of South Salt Lake. Meanwhile, South Salt Lake Police told me there had been an investigation into the alleged assault, it happened in Salt Lake City jurisdiction, and they didn’t know why the press was being told otherwise.

I do give credit to the Salt Lake City Police Department for eventually getting the right hand to talk to the left hand, and releasing this information. But we should have had all of this weeks ago, and it might have affected how everything else unfolded subsequently. More alarm might have been sounded about Todd Snider’s state. No to toot a horn, but I do think my article on November 18th basically presenting the conflicting accounts by the two police departments is what had Salt Lake City get their act together and admit that yes, there was an in-depth investigation into the assault, including interviews with witnesses, analysis of surveillance footage, etc.

None of this changes the eventual outcome for Todd Snider. But this is why transparency is important. And frankly, there were details in here I did not want to share with the public. But when you try to hide the reality of things, when the truth is revealed, it often is even more ugly.

He’s dead now. Nobody cares about whether you feel like he behaved in a way that is worthy of your sympathy. He made great art and he died tragically. A lot of personal demons were responsible for both of those things, and we’ll never know the extent of them. In the meantime, go toss your sanctimony at a rolling donut.

As someone on the periphery of this situation (aware of Todd and his music but never been a big listener. To be fair, I haven’t “dove in” to his discography at any point but may do so in the near future), I am honestly coming to the conclusion that the less we know, the better. There doesn’t appear to be a definitive person or entity at fault and the more details that come to light, the messier it gets. At this point, I probably won’t read any further details. May Todd Snider rest in peace.

This whole situation didn’t need to unfold like this. Details included in this report and others didn’t need to come out publicly, and only did due to the vacuum of information, and a lack of transparency. As other’s said, Todd Snider probably should have never even gone out on tour. That might have been the ultimate, fatal mistake. But it is important we learn from these mistakes so they’re not repeated again.

Thanks again for all your hard work, Trigger. This story just continues to be so heartbreaking with every new element coming out. I wish Todd had gotten the help he needed, not just in Salt Lake, but with everything. He didn’t deserve to go out like this.

It’ll go down as another sad tale of a creative artist ultimately succumbing to the inner demons that simultaneously fueled their artistry and caused their demise.

Now I’m sadder than ever. Poor Todd – he always came across onstage as utterly without pretense, and yet this was an illusion. It’s bleak to realize how he was suffering for his art.

How do we know he wasn’t? It would explain the bobbing and weaving on his way to the bus. If there are theorizing he was high on alcohol/drugs, when did he consumer those? That wasn’t on the video just as the alleged assault wasn’t, and could each of happened off camera in the same timeframe.

The theory by the Salt Lake City Department that drugs and alcohol were involved is just that: a theory. They give no evidence. For all we know, the issue was that Todd Snider needed to be on certain prescribed drugs and wasn’t, resulting in the erratic behavior and injury. I think we all need to understand that when digesting this information.

I have no doubt that Todd Snider thought he’d been attacked. He said as much in the body camera footage, and there was no reason for management not to believe him, at least initially. But when Aimless, Inc. released the statement on the afternoon of November 3rd that the tour had been cancelled due to the “violent assault”—over 48 hours after they discovered Todd injured—there at least had to be some suspicion, if not preliminary findings from the police, that indicated an assault might not have occurred.

All of this is Monday morning quarterbacking though. Todd was missing, Todd was sick and injured, off his meds with no cell phone, and Todd had been arrested. It was a huge mess.

I am appreciative of the expertly detailed reporting on these sad/tragic events by SCM over the past week. Have definitely been thinking of Todd since this all made news. When his death was confirmed, I did a deep dive on YouTube to revisit his epic stories. Todd was a great songwriter and equally adept at story telling.

Last night I saw Hayes Carll and his crack band play in Milwaukee. Great show. The highlight was when they played “Play A Train Song”. Hayes sounded eerily like Todd and it was touching, emotional and wildly received.

I don’t know what else to add other than Trigger, hope you and the SCM readers have a great weekend and Thanksgiving. As Hayes sang last night “So thank God/For good people/Thank people/For being kind,/I thank you/For doing your thing/And thank me/For doing mine.

Todd Snider was on a plane on November 3rd, because he was on a plane on November 1st headed for Nashville, and left the plane shortly before departure. I have not been able to confirm Todd left Salt Lake on November 3rd, but I believe that’s likely. I do not know if the tour bus was Nashville-based and if it came out from Nashville and returned to Nashville after the tour was cancelled. But the band and the bus all left Salt Lake City on November 1st because the tour had been cancelled.

I do hope for more clarity on what happened November 3rd and beyond after Snider was released from jail. Right now, I’m unable to confirm anything. Queries have been sent to Snider’s management and others.

The biggest, most over the top movie style bar fight I was ever involved in was started by a friend of mine. He was EXTREMELY drunk – as we all were all the time back then. He had stood up on the bar foot rail to yell to the bartender, slipped, and smacked his face on the bar – hard – knocking a tooth out. In this dude’s mind he did not even register that happening.

He immediately turns and punches some random dude next to him – thinking that dude had punched him and knocked his tooth out. Then everything just went crazy. Everyone punching everyone, chairs, stools, and glasses flying. By the time it was over the bar was completely destroyed, gallons of blood on the floor, and most of (including me…thanks again Jim…my toothless buddy…) were in handcuffs.

This was over 30 years ago, and TO THIS DAY he swears someone punched him and knocked his tooth out. Even though several of us saw what actually happened, he 100% can not register that actually happening in his mind.

Otis notes that Todd had chronic back problems. At 6:26, Otis notes that in the body cam video, Todd says he needs his meds, and he cites Baclofen, a muscle relaxer that carries warnings not to stop taking it abruptly. Not having it could have contributed. Sad to say, but we’ll never know. (Baclofen also has off-label uses for conditions ranging from hiccups to alcoholism.)

Trigger, you deserve a Pulitzer Prize for your reporting on this sad, tragic mess. Thank you for caring enough to investigate as you have. It’s been almost a week, and I still feel so sad about what happened and frustrated that Todd didn’t get the help that he needed, even from himself. Everyone be kind to each other.

Snider’s manager speculated to police that “Todd must have left the hotel to go make a purchase at a convenience store, some water and something to eat. He noted Todd does not drink and would not have walked to the liquor store. (He) did not believe the incident took place on the bus as he stated there did not appear to be any indications of a fight or disturbance on board, and no broken glass or instruments that may have been used in the assault,”

Just to clarify, this is coming from Snider’s management that was not on the ground in Salt Lake City, so not the road manager who was with the band. I saw this in the police report I obtained, but it’s sort of superseded by the surveillance video, and the accounts from witnesses. As the report says, it’s “speculation” by the manager who heard about the assault, and perhaps felt it wasn’t taken seriously enough on the ground in Salt Lake, and called police to investigate.

I do agree that the glass in the head wound that comes from the out-of-town manager is interesting and might be a clue to what happened specifically with Todd. But I don’t think Todd was assaulted waking to a corner store. If he left the hotel premises, they would have seen that on video.

The band initially said he was assaulted, and they found him bleeding on the bus.
It was presumably the scene of the crime…didn’t they drive away with the crime scene?

I’m not exactly sure how to answer that question. At some point it was determined no crime had been committed. Both the Salt Lake City Police Department and South Salt Lake Police said that Todd was uncooperative with their investigations, as was the road manager. It seems the person who was most interested in getting to the bottom of the alleged assault was the out-of-town manager, but he was not really in a position of managing that situation on the ground.

From the beginning, there has been this perception that Todd Snider got assaulted, and was left on the streets of Salt Lake City for dead as the band and manager skipped town. Todd was supposed to be on a plane to Nashville early on November 2nd, was at the airport, was possibly on the plane in his seat, and bailed. The bus and band had left. The tour was cancelled. Maybe if they had known Snider would bail from the airport and need to be tracked down and assisted, they would have stayed.

The report on KSL dot com says Snider got off the plane and an ambulance was called to the airport. I’m wondering, was this the same ambulance ride where he was previously said to have flagged somebody down on the street and said call me an ambulance, or a different ambulance ride? The tour manager put him in an ambulance while he flew home and the band took the bus? I need to write myself a timeline to keep track of all this!

Now that we have this trove of information from the Salt Lake City Police Department, some holes in the timeline are able to be filled in, and I might publish an updated timeline here soon. But there are still tons of holes in it.

1. On the morning of November 1st after being discovered with the head injury.
2. After exiting the plane/airport the morning of the 2nd.
3. After being taken in an ambulance to the Holy Cross Hospital where he was denied/arrested after phone call was made to police at 245 S. State Street at about 3:40 pm on November 2nd.

I have not been able to verify that an ambulance was called for Snider at the airport, though I have no reason to not believe KSL’s reporting. They have been pretty on top of this story, and since they’re local, they might have a way to get medical info that I have been denied. What I heard (but cannot verify) is that Todd himself claimed he got a cab at the airport and took it to the hospital.

I’ve also not been able to verify whether the tour bus was from Nashville, was a rental, or how the band got back home. What I do know with pretty good certainty is the tour manager was on the same flight as Todd Snider that was supposed to have returned Snider home to Nashville before he bailed. I don’t know if the tour manager knew Todd Snider exited the plane, if Todd bolted before even boarding, but I do believe the tour manager took that plane and Todd didn’t.

I just once again want to emphasize that there is no indication that the band purposely abandoned Todd Snider in Salt Lake City. The plan was for Todd Snider to fly home to Nashville, ill advised or not, or whether Snider should have rode on the bus or not. That was the plan. That plan got scuttled when Snider refused to take the plane. At that point, the band is likely hours down the road, might not even have known Snider didn’t get on the plane, and is probably not in a position to do anything to help find Snider out in Salt Lake with no cell phone.

“‘Todd was supposed to have returned to Nashville (on Nov. 2) but was still in some pain at the Salt Lake City International Airport, therefore EMS were called and responded there to medically evaluate him. Todd was transported to another Salt Lake area hospital,’ the report states.”

So the report I got from the Salt Lake City Police Department does not have any information about the airport and any interactions there. I will have to follow up on Monday and see if this was a different report, or where this information came from. I’m not saying it’s incorrect at all. I just do not have that specific information, though I have heard from numerous sources in the know who say Snider was at the airport, was supposed to take the plane, and didn’t. I believe Todd told some people he took a cab to the hospital, but who knows. Snider could have been disoriented at that time from numerous things. From what that report states, he was transported, but it doesn’t say by ambulance.

One thing that’s clear is you can’t hide your head, and if you get a gash or a cut or a scrape on the head, there tends to be a lot of blood–as anyone who’s watched boxing can attest–or even pro wrestling in the good old days when they used to “blade” themselves to create color.

So if Todd had a head wound that require 20 surgical staples to close, it would have been noticed. So if people report seeing him and he was not bleeding (and was not wearing a large hat or kerchief or other covering, then the injury had to have occurred after such sightings.

Trigger, any reports on services for Todd?
Also, what else do you feel is important for understanding as things progress?
Much gratitude and appreciation for the time and effort you have taken to help so many caring fans understand what Todd experienced even though heartbreaking. Truly appreciated!

My understanding is there has been or will be a small private service for family and close friends. There is also a much larger celebration of life in the works that will possibly be held at The Ryman, possibly in May when they can get everyone together. Will definitely let folks know if this comes together.

Trigger, I appreciate you going the extra mile in your reporting. So many people have jumped to conclusions stemmed from emotions. Not you. A+ reporting. From the beginning I have said you don’t need to any further than the fact that everybody who knew him LEFT HIM. Tells you everything you need to know. But I do like that you are finding all the facts. I don’t like that the hospital or the police are getting blamed by people. Was the security guy in the body cam a perfect human? Probably not. Did he cause Todd’s death? No way. A whole bunch of shit happened and to blame strangers who happened to come in contact with Todd for a few minutes during his final days on earth is completely irresponsible.

I will say this: The fact that so many people are not being forthright with information, or have said outright misleading stuff, is one of the major drivers of speculation about what happened to Todd. I have Det. Michael Ruff from the Salt Lake City Police Department on record telling me emphatically that the incident did not happen in their jurisdiction, and there had been no investigation. Then three weeks later, we learn there had been an extensive investigation. Todd Snider’s camp tells us there was a violent assault, and then we learn there likely was no assault. This has people distrusting everything and asking, “What else are we being lied to about?” That is why even with this recent information, a lot of people have even more questions.

I think it’s a lot easier to get out of contracts and other obligations when the artist is “violently assaulted” as opposed to saying something like “artist is under the influence and out of control”

Then they admit Todd hates flying, he’s just been injured so definitely shouldn’t be flying… so they take his tour bus with his medications and go home without him?

The out-of-town manager was the one that called Salt Lake City Police, and did cooperate with them and try to get them what they needed to investigate the assault. That same manager or team is likely who put out the notification of the cancelled tour due to a “violent assault.” Since they were not on the ground, they might have not been privy to certain pieces of information.

The road manager is the one who seems to be on record not wanting to cooperate with the investigation. That said, this might have been at the behest of Todd Snider, who on numerous occasions appears to have been uncooperative with police when they tried to question him about what happened.

Have not heard anything about this. His funeral was private with just close friends and family, but I believe they are trying to schedule a big celebration of life perhaps in May of 2026. I’ll try to share more info when it is available.

Otis said he’ll tell us Todd’s version when the time is right. I wish we had more details of what Todd was doing in the hotel for almost an hour before walking back to the bus on the night of Halloween. The parking lot cam report is that Todd is seen staggering and swaying while walking from hotel back to the bus. That would suggest that he was consuming something in the hotel. Drugs/alcohol?

It feels from the reports that if management in salt lake had been more forthcoming about the cancelation or about needing help reining in Todd that things may not have spiraled. Todd had plenty of friends with the meens to fly to Salt Lake and bring him back or get him care.

Trigger, first time posting here. I think you should change the ‘self-inflicted’ verbiage. I understand the police said that, but the term carries implications of intent that should not be in a headline given our present state of knowledge. thanks.

I appreciate your feedback and scrutiny on the title of this article, as well as the scrutiny of others. I recognize how some could misunderstand or misconstrue how “self-inflicted” was used in this context. After talking with some colleagues and mentors about this, I have chosen to keep the title as it is. It is very important that we cement in time what the police are saying, irrespective of what it is, and if we believe it or not. “Self-inflicted” was the term that came from a member of the Salt Lake City Police Department and was said to me during the reporting of this incident. I have it recorded and archived. Appreciate that for three weeks, the Salt Lake City Police Department was emphatic that there hadn’t been any investigation into the assault/injury because it was out of their jurisdiction. It’s important we keep up with who says what, and when.

On a much more technical note, changing the title of an article can create all kinds of issues with folks finding it, links to it breaking, all kinds of stuff, especially if it’s been up for 24 hours.

I don’t see the term “self-inflicted” in the article. You instead use “self-induced”, which (to me) implies less direct causation than “self-inflicted.” Also, you do not quote the police using either term, so it seems to be your conclusion. Perhaps consider making the title consistent with the article if you insist on blaming the injury on Todd.

There’s nothing wrong with the verbiage. It’s not an indication that he meant to hurt himself, only that his injuries were the result of something he did was doing with intent rather than a pure accident. For instance, if I cut myself with a utility knife while trying to open a box, that’s self-inflicted. If I reach into a drawer and cut myself on a utility knife that I didn’t know was there, that’s an accident.

It’s entirely possible that the incident was mischaracterized on the police report; but given that that’s how it was stated, it’s the correct way to report it.

Self-inflicted
– You directly caused the injury to yourself.
– Implies an intentional act: cutting yourself, shooting yourself, punching a wall and breaking your hand, etc.
– In law or clinical notes, it usually signals purpose or at least volitional conduct.

Self-induced
– You caused the injury indirectly by creating conditions that predictably led to it.
– Often doesn’t imply intent.
– Examples: getting alcohol poisoning from drinking too much, passing out from drug use, dehydration from refusing fluids, heatstroke because you ignored precautions.
– You didn’t “inflict” the injury in the sense of striking or cutting yourself, but your actions induced the harm.

If you pick up a gun, point it at yourself, and pull the trigger with the intent of ending your life, the wound is self-inflicted, death from the wound is self-induced.

If you pick up a gun to look at it, not knowing that it’s loaded, and shoot yourself while handling it, the wound is self-inflicted, but if you die your death is not self-induced.

If you bump into a wall and knock a loaded gun off a shelf and it goes off and hits you, the wound is not self-inflicted and if you die your death is not self-induced.

This is the textbook definition of a semantic argument. I have a recording of a police officer from the Salt Lake City Police Department telling me that the injury to Todd Snider was “self-inflicted.” That is where the quote comes from. That is why the title of this article states. I appreciate the scrutiny people are bringing to the title, and as I have stated numerous times before, I have scrutinized it myself. I decide to put “self-inflicted” in quotes just to make sure people understand this is not Saving Country Music’s words, but the words of the police. However, I remain someone stupefied why so much emphasis is being put on the stupid title of this article, and not the information contained in it, especially since it’s unlikely that without my reporting, this report would have never seen the light of day in the first place.

Instead of asking about the title, why aren’t we asking why a female band member heard Todd Snider crying out in pain at 9:00 PM on October 1st, but nobody called 911 and discovered the gash on the back of his head until 16 hours later? Two women in the touring entourage said Snider was acting strangely, and reported this to the tour manager, and the tour manager did nothing. Anyone want to question this?

Thank you for keeping us posted. I will continue to follow up with your reporting because he was my hero and I am having a hard time with him being gone

There seems to be a couple of comments missing from your post on Nov 3 regarding this story… can one delete after posting a comment or is it something that has to be requested?

No comments have been deleted, unless there was some accident or glitch. People cannot delete comments after posting. They can request their comment be deleted, though I regularly discourage this, because deleted comments often can create even more drama, as this comment illustrates.