Liam Payne sought out the hotel employee accused of delivering him drugs very shortly before his death ... and their interaction is captured in this newly discovered surveillance footage.
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00:00Well, much of the Liam Payne death investigation is centered around the hotel where he died.
00:06And we know that police have had multiple raids there, and they have charged three suspects
00:12involved with his death.
00:14One of them is a hotel staffer.
00:16Who they believe is the one who brought some of the drug paraphernalia up to his room in
00:21that dove box that we saw.
00:23Right.
00:24That was found in the hotel in Liam's room.
00:27And we also know that police combed through 800 hours of surveillance video at the hotel.
00:33TMZ has now obtained just one bit of video, but a very critical piece of video from the
00:41hotel surveillance.
00:43And this video is critical because it was recorded just three hours before Liam's death
00:48and shows him interacting with the hotel staffer who has been charged in his death.
00:55And you can see the hotel staffer there shaking hands.
00:58Liam is inside the elevator, and you're going to see him step out for just a moment.
01:04In a second here, they're having a conversation about, not sure what, but again, this is three
01:09hours before his death.
01:12And there's Liam.
01:13And police have said they believe that this hotel staffer is the person who delivered
01:18drugs to him.
01:19And was charged now.
01:20Yeah.
01:21And has now been charged with it.
01:22So this could be a very critical part of their investigation and eventual trial of
01:29the suspect.
01:30What I thought was kind of interesting in this video, Liam doesn't seem like erratic.
01:35And I know this was three hours before, but it's crazy to see him kind of like in a normal
01:41state, which we know before his death, he was extremely erratic.
01:46We were told in the lobby he was smashing his laptop.
01:50He at one point collapsed to the ground.
01:52He had to be carried back to his hotel room and things just totally went awry.
01:56And when they actually did the toxicology, they found numerous drugs in his system.
02:01Everything from cocaine, crack, ketamine, ecstasy, a form of methamphetamine.
02:07I mean, it was just, you know, insane how much he had in his system.
02:11And it's unclear if he knew exactly what was in his system.
02:14Yeah.
02:15And this is video three hours before.
02:17They have enough surveillance that they can see up to the minute he actually ends up in
02:23his room.
02:24So we don't know what state he was in there.
02:28But it's hard to tell without the audio, without audio.
02:30Yeah.
02:31And, you know, what's again, I think what's really interesting about this case is the
02:36hotel worker, that person, that if he's asked to do something by a big celebrity, is it
02:45the same as a drug dealer supplying Liam with drugs?
02:51I think there might be some sympathy on the part of a hotel worker.
02:55Perhaps.
02:56And I don't know.
02:57It depends on how it's presented.
02:58But what I'm saying is the way the lawyer might play this to the jury is to say, you
03:04know, put yourself in the shoes of some guy who's working in the hotel.
03:07Right.
03:08And he's a bellman.
03:09And a huge star comes up to you and asks you to deliver something that you know you probably
03:14shouldn't.
03:15But you don't in any way think this is going to end in a calamity.
03:19I have no idea whether that would work or not.
03:22But I think that's going to be the play of a lawyer if this case goes to trial.
03:26Yeah.
03:27Courtland from L.A.
03:28You know, this case, the more details that come out, it's so sad.
03:31But I am glad that there are laws that say, hey, if you provide someone with a substance
03:34and it results in their death, you are held accountable.
03:37But also, if you take the substance, there is a risk that's involved.
03:40So there's really not how can you make everybody happy?
03:43How can you really get justice in a situation like this?
03:45Yeah.
03:46You know, there may not be justice.
03:48You're right.
03:49And again, they don't generally prosecute unless it's a celebrity.
03:53They don't look the way they looked here unless.
03:56And that's not just the case in Argentina, it's the case in the United States.