DJ Rashad blood clot report ‘premature,’ medical examiner says

A rapidly circulating report that DJ Rashad died as the result of a blood clot “is premature,” an investigator in the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office told The Times on Thursday.

The Guardian in London reported that a family member told the Chicago-based juke and footwork producer’s U.K.-based label, Hyperdub, “that the coroner has determined a blood clot that started in his leg led to the death.”

But the medical examiner’s office said no such determination has been made. The cause of Rashad Hanif Harden’s death on April 26 at age 34 is still under investigation pending the outcome of toxicology testing, Investigator Johnson said, and that process normally takes several weeks.

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The Guardian’s report was quickly picked up by Spin, AllHipHop.com, Stereogum, Consequence of Sound and other music outlets.

At the time his death was reported last weekend, Chicago police noted that they found drug paraphernalia near his body. The Guardian’s report says the items were related to marijuana, not hard drugs.