Hart family crash: Driver was legally drunk at time of fatal SUV plunge off Northern California clif

[Eugene]

Source: CBS/AP

Hart family crash: Driver was legally drunk at time of fatal SUV plunge off Northern California cliff

APRIL 3, 2019 / 9:45 PM / CBS/AP

San Francisco — A Washington state woman's blood-alcohol level far exceeded California's legal limit when she drove a SUV with her partner and six children inside off a Mendocino County Cliff along Highway 1 last year, a forensic pathologist testified Wednesday. Dr. Greg Pizarro was among the witnesses on day one of a two-day coroner's inquest attempting to determine whether the deaths of Jennifer and Sarah Hart and their six adopted children were accidental, a murder-suicide or undetermined.

The 100-foot drop March 26, 2018, killed the two women from Woodland, Washington, and their children Markis Hart, 19; Jeremiah Hart, 14; Abigail Hart, 14; Hannah Hart, 16; and Ciera Hart, 12. Devonte Hart, 15, is believed to have also died in the accident, but his body has yet to be recovered. The two women and three of the kids died of broken necks, CBS San Francisco reports.

Pizarro told the inquest jury that Jennifer Hart's blood alcohol level was .102 at the of the crash — well above California's limit of 0.08. He also testified that Sarah Hard had a high level of benedryl in her blood stream at the time of her death. He added that is was not the cause of her death, but neared toxic levels.

"Her levels of benedryl were really high," Pizarro said.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hart-family-crash-driver-legally-drunk-fatal-suv-plunge-northern-california-cliff-coroner-inquest-2019-04-03/


This March 20, 2016, photo shows Hart family of Woodland, Wash., at a Bernie Sanders rally in Vancouver, Wash. Authorities in Northern California say they believe all six children from a family were in a vehicle that plunged off a coastal cliff.
TRISTAN FORTSCH/KATU NEWS VIA AP

[Beaverhausen]

1. So sad. I listened to the Broken Hart's podcast

Such a strange, sad situation.

[mr_lebowski]

2. "Far-Exceeded" is a bit of a stretch ... it's 25% above the legal limit, and pretty much exactly the

legal limit up until I believe the mid-90's.

How impaired one is at .10 BAC is largely dependent on one's alcohol tolerance. However, a good amount of booze, mixed with what they're calling near-toxic levels of Benadryl ... definitely changes the equation. And makes me wonder whether this wasn't a suicide.

A major tragedy regardless of the underlying cause ...

[WheelWalker]

3. Just to clarify, I think one woman had the alcohol, the other the diphenhydramine?

But as you say, a tragedy regardless.

[SharonAnn]

4. Benadryl makes one sleepy.