Was there any evidence that Pre was drunk when he died?

wikipedia, do your own work from now on Rube

The death of Prefontaine, affectionately called "Pre", proved shocking to many. The Eugene Register-Guard called his death "the end of an era." Whether his death was an alcohol-related fatality remains controversial. Although his blood alcohol content was 0.16, six hundredths higher than Oregon's then legal limit, it was a mortician that tested his blood rather than a medical examiner.

hadbfasdfn wrote:

wikipedia, do your own work from now on Rube

Although his blood alcohol content was 0.16, six hundredths higher than Oregon's then legal limit, it was a mortician that tested his blood rather than a medical examiner.

Wikipedia isn't anymore reliable than Letsun.

Where did you come up with the 0.16 figure? The question remains, was there any evidence that Pre was drunk when he died?

quote]

Wikipedia isn't anymore reliable than Letsun.

Where did you come up with the 0.16 figure? The question remains, was there any evidence that Pre was drunk when he died?[/quote]

okay let me spell this out:

the 0.16 figure comes from w i k i p e d i a

In a sentence: Wikipedia is an internet site.

if it is'nt more reliable than Letsrun then why are you asking on letsrun???

if you need more clarity go get the results from the mortician, you ghoul

Seems to be valid...take your pick.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=prefontaine+blood+alcohol+content&spell=1

hasddsfbv wrote:

if it is'nt more reliable than Letsrun then why are you asking on letsrun???

Because there are reliable people here on Letsrun too. It's those reliable posters opinions I'm asking for. If Pre's BA was 0.16 they would be able to cite where the number came from. Citing wiki means squat.

Just because something is posted here or on Wikipedia doesn't mean it's true.

Can the attitude buddy.

Evidence? THE CAR WAS UPSIDE DOWN ON TOP OF HIM. There's your f***ing evidence.

What is M.A.A.D?

Keep_Going wrote:

Seems to be valid...take your pick.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=prefontaine+blood+alcohol+content&spell=1

That doesn't show validity, in fact, it suggests the opposite.

If you read the text on all of those entrys in your Google search you would have seen they are exactly the same, meaning they are either from the same person or plagairized, or both. That's not a confirmation of validity.

The first entry in wikipedia with the 0.16 number was from an unidentified poster on November 9, 2004.

The question remains, was there any evidence that Pre was drunk when he died?

M.A.A.D. wrote:

The question remains, was there any evidence that Pre was drunk when he died?

The car smashed him. He died from a car accident after a party. Why do you refuse to believe this? That kind of accident doesn't just happen without the influence of alcohol.

yes, sadly, he was 'drinking impaired'. Unfortunately, alot of us thought nothing of driving home from a party or bar with a 'beer buzz' in those days. (drinking age for beer was 18 in alot of states). No excuse, but the 'social pressure' NOT to 'drink and drive' was nothing like it is these days. (thank God; for the better). Pre was a typical college runner/social drinker of the mid 70s. The legal limit is even less today than it was then. Whether or not his drinking at the party preceding his crash and roll over were because of drinking impairment, or whether another vehicle was flying around that bend, in Steve's lane, causing him to swerve violently, to avoid a head on, we'll never know. Pre was NOT wearing a seat belt; again, not that uncommon for 1975....but only a moron would not wear a seat belt these days....a sad memory....I still have the original articles in my scrapbook. My college and high school friends/runners were truly devastated. Hard to really describe; even 30 years later.

Coach Bigfoot wrote:

The car smashed him. He died from a car accident after a party. Why do you refuse to believe this? That kind of accident doesn't just happen without the influence of alcohol.

Sure it does.

The weight of the car caused him to suffocate, but he didn't have any broken bones "coach" big mouth.

Kenny Moore (or Frank Shorter, probably KM) was just dropped off by Pre and strongly contends that Pre was not drunk. He indicates that it appears that something caused Pre to swerve hard to avoid a collision and that the tire marks and the geometry of the road are very consistent with thi hypothesis. Go see writings by Kenny Moore (his new book?), who is a very reputable writer and someone that I would trust more than some unknown internet commenter. How would the mortician measure his BA, which would have been later and might have changed differently that some assumption that the mortician made (note that my \"knowledge\" of the mortician angle is draw only from this thread)?

I thought he swerved to avoid another car, causing his car to flip. No one knows who was in the other car, correct? This situation could occur drunk or not.

I think that number is also used in Tom Jordan's book. I had never heard about the mortician/medical examiner discrepancy.

One theory I've heard (never seen it in print) is that a person from up the street came out from his house (perhaps connected to the person in the ghost car that no one has positively identified).

The 0.16 number is also what is reported in Tom Jordan's book. It's definitely valid that the BA was 0.16. The only question is its validity due to the fact a mortician did it. However, that was not an uncommon practice then and I personally have no reason to doubt the validity of the number simply because it wasn't done by an M.D.

he had just dropped off Frank Shorter AT Kenny Moore's house, then proceeded down the hill, around the bends. We're not sure about the "2nd car theory"....could be true, but no proof. Another theory was he could have been distracted, ie, he was fiddling with his cassette tape player and took his eye off the road for a fatal, brief second and crossed over, into the rock wall. Nobody knows for sure.

70\\\\\\\\\ wrote:Another theory was he could have been distracted, ie, he was fiddling with his cassette tape player

nobody with any common sense is disputing that Pre was legally drunk at the time of the fatal accident. What nobody is sure of, is whether that alone was the only resaon he died, or whether the 2nd car theory or distracted driver theory enter into it somehow.