Baseball has been mourning the death of 22 year old Taveras who was an undoubtedly promising star. New toxicology reports now suggest that Taveras was possibly drunk when he crashed on October 26th.
Dominican Republic’s attorney general has released a statement saying that rookie outfielder Oscar Taveras who was playing for the St. Louis Cardinals and was killed in a car crash on October 26th was drunk at the time of accident. Tessie Sanchez, a spokeswoman for the office of the attorney general has said that it was found that Taveras was “legally intoxicated” at the time of the crash which took his life.
The 22 year old athlete had a blood alcohol level that was nearly six times the legal limit according to the toxicology reports gathered by the Associated Press. The crash occurred in Puerto Plata. The legal limit in Dominican Republic for intoxication is 0.5, which is even lower than the limit of 0.8 followed in the US, say Cleveland drunk driving attorneys. The athlete’s blood reports show a BAC of .287. Such a high blood alcohol content can only be reached if a person of the build that Taveras was swallowed an equivalent of 15 drinks in under two hours.
Taveras was driving a 2014 Chevy Camaro with his 18 year old girlfriend Edilia Arvelo in tow. Both of them were killed in the fatal crash, the details of which are yet unknown. Taveras was supposedly driving to his hometown of Sosua, near Puerto Plata, from Jameo. His car was discovered in a horribly mangled position after the crash. Authorities say that the heavy rainfall in the region may have contributed to the accident but the investigation into the exact cause of the crash is still ongoing.
Cardinals general manager released a statement declaring that the team would not “confirm details” unless they had reviewed all the official reports. Even if Taveras was drunk beyond hope on that fatal night, it does not take away from the fact that what occurred was a terrible tragedy. The team management says they will use this instance to educate the Cardinals’ players that it is important to take responsibility for their actions both on and off the field.
The Cardinals’ team management has a strict no-liquor policy which was initiated after 29 year old Josh Hancock was killed in a 2007 accident. According to reports, Hancock had a BAC almost twice of Missouri’s legal limit at the time of death. In 2014, the Cardinals had extended their ban on alcohol to the team locker-room and team charter flights returning to St. Louis.
The MLB has also been mulling over an alcohol related policy for some time now. The series of alcohol-related incidents which included six players from different teams being charged for DUI in the same year was a major turning point in this regard. DUI Cleveland attorneys say that one of the players charged in 2011 also included Austin Kearns of the Cleveland Indians who was caught weaving down a road and driving in an emergency lane without headlights.