Liam PayneThe traumatic death has traumatized an eyewitness who was staying in the same hotel as the One Direction singer.

Brett Watson, who was a guest at the Hotel CasaSur Palermo in Buenos Aires, recalled seeing Payne fall from a balcony in a clip from the Monday, December 16, documentary TMZ investigates: Liam Payne: Who’s to blame?

“I met our wedding planner. We had gone into the room and happened to be looking out the window of our hotel,” Watson recalled. “We saw Liam fall.”

Watson said his room was on the first floor, adding: “We immediately rushed to the balcony to see what it was and when we looked down we could see it was Liam lying on the floor .” He landed face up, so we could immediately tell it was him and he was lying motionless.”

Related: 5 men will be questioned later this month as part of the investigation into Liam Payne’s death

HUGO/MEGA investigators are searching for answers about what led to Liam Payne’s death. On October 16, 2024, the former One Direction member fell to his death from a balcony at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires. He was 31 years old. A press release from the Argentine Prosecutor’s Office dated November 7, 2024, (…)

The eyewitness was visibly upset as he recalled details of the incident.

“I don’t have a medical background, but from what I saw, it looked like he died on impact. Time stopped or slowed down instantly,” Watson continued. “It’s heartbreaking to see someone just fall like that, but seeing it and hearing the impact on the ground was more powerful than watching him fall.”

He concluded: “Then seeing the immediate aftermath is something that’s burned into my brain and I’ll never forget it and I’m still working on processing everything we saw and to understand.”

Us weekly confirmed in October that Payne died after falling from the third floor of his Argentine hotel. He was 31 years old. Buenos Aires Metropolitan Police were dispatched earlier in the day to the CasaSur Palermo Hotel, where Payne was staying. According to the official police report, officers responded to a call reporting an “aggressive male who may have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol.”

“At 5:04 p.m., we were alerted through 911 and the integrated public security system to a person in the courtyard of the CasaSur Hotel,” Alberto Crescenti, director of SAME (Emergency Medical Assistance System), said in a television interview on La Nation. “Unfortunately, he suffered injuries that were incompatible with life as a result of the fall, so we had to confirm his death. There was no possibility of resuscitation.”

The musician’s preliminary autopsy report said he died from multiple injuries with “internal and external bleeding” and suffered “multiple traumas” that contributed to his death. ABC News later reported that a partial autopsy revealed that Payne had “pink cocaine” – a recreational drug that typically mixes methamphetamine, ketamine and MDMA – as well as cocaine, benzodiazepine and crack cocaine in his system at the time.

In November, prosecutors announced that three people had been charged with abandonment resulting in death and delivery and distribution of narcotics in connection with Payne’s death.

“The first defendant, a companion of the artist during his stay in Buenos Aires, was charged with abandonment resulting in death – a crime under Article 106 of the Penal Code, punishable by five to 15 years in prison – in connection with the supply and facilitation of narcotics “, says a statement from Andres Esteban Madreawho called for the arrest of the three people in a 180-page indictment Judge Laura Graciela Bruniard. “The second defendant, a hotel employee, is accused of supplying cocaine to Payne on two occasions during his stay at the hotel and the third defendant, also a drug supplier, is accused of two further confirmed cases of cocaine supply on October 14. Both are charged with drug trafficking.”

The forensic team ultimately ruled out “self-harm or third-party involvement” in Payne’s death, noting that “his lack of defensive posture upon impact suggests he may have fallen into a semi- or fully unconscious state.”

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).