The Region - News from May 23, 1986

Drinking was not responsible for the May 11 van accident that killed three members of the San Diego State University crew club and injured 10 other San Diego student-athletes, the California Highway Patrol reported. Empty beer cans were found in the wreckage of the van, which rolled several times after a rear tire blew out at 85 m.p.h. on a remote stretch of Interstate 5 in Central California. Driver Joseph Farrage, 19, was given a blood-alcohol test the night of the crash, but a CHP spokesman would not comment on the results, except to say that alcohol was not a factor in the accident. SDSU crew club member Dan Wright has said that, although beer was consumed in the van before the crash, Farrage did not drink any. The CHP is still looking into the crash and will not be ready to release its findings for at least two weeks.