Andrew Carter Thornton II was a notorious drug smuggler in American criminal history. During his career as a narcotics officer with the police department of Lexington, Kentucky, he established himself as head of a drug ring known as The Company. On September 11th 1985, he was piloting a plane back to the United States after a smuggling run in Colombia. As his auto-piloted plane was passing over the state of Georgia, he had dumped several packages of cocaine out of the plane before jumping out himself. However, his parachute failed to open and he fell to his death. His body was found in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Cocaine Bear[]
In the horror-comedy film Cocaine Bear, which was based on the events immediately following Thornton's death, Thornton is portrayed by Michael Rhys. The details of his death have been altered for the sake of comedy. After throwing several duffel bags full of cocaine out of his plane, Thornton - who is high on his own product - puts on a parachute and prepares to jump out. He takes a short running jump and ends up hitting his head on the doorframe, knocking himself out before plunging to his death.