COP IN KILLER CAR SMASH WAS LOADED
Associated Press
June 14, 2003 -- A Union County, N.J., police officer who crashed into another car killing six people including himself, was extremely drunk at the time, investigators say.
The National Transportation Safety Board, which has been probing the May 1 crash on Routes 1 and 9, yesterday released the results of toxicology tests that determined Officer Edward Belvin's blood alcohol level was .326, or more than three times the legal limit in New Jersey.
The Union County Prosecutor's Office placed the level at .351.
"Sadly, the blood test results only serve to intensify the tragedy," Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow said.
Belvin also had traces of an allergy medication in his system, the tests determined.
Investigators said his Mercedes crossed three highway lanes and crashed head-on into a Ford Taurus. Belvin and four of the five people in the Ford died at the scene; the fifth died several hours later.
Toxicology test results are still pending for the driver of the Taurus.
The NTSB has not been able to determine how fast the Mercedes was traveling at the time of the crash, but is seeking information from its airbag equipment to try to determine the impact speed.
The five restaurant workers killed in the crash all lived in Elizabeth and worked 25 miles away at a Houlihan's in Holmdel, where they had finished work about an hour earlier.
Associated Press
June 14, 2003 -- A Union County, N.J., police officer who crashed into another car killing six people including himself, was extremely drunk at the time, investigators say.
The National Transportation Safety Board, which has been probing the May 1 crash on Routes 1 and 9, yesterday released the results of toxicology tests that determined Officer Edward Belvin's blood alcohol level was .326, or more than three times the legal limit in New Jersey.
The Union County Prosecutor's Office placed the level at .351.
"Sadly, the blood test results only serve to intensify the tragedy," Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow said.
Belvin also had traces of an allergy medication in his system, the tests determined.
Investigators said his Mercedes crossed three highway lanes and crashed head-on into a Ford Taurus. Belvin and four of the five people in the Ford died at the scene; the fifth died several hours later.
Toxicology test results are still pending for the driver of the Taurus.
The NTSB has not been able to determine how fast the Mercedes was traveling at the time of the crash, but is seeking information from its airbag equipment to try to determine the impact speed.
The five restaurant workers killed in the crash all lived in Elizabeth and worked 25 miles away at a Houlihan's in Holmdel, where they had finished work about an hour earlier.
