Toran’s Blood Alcohol Level Is Put at Three Times Limit

Raider safety Stacey Toran had a blood-alcohol level more than three times the legal limit when he drove his car into a tree and was killed, the coroner’s office said Thursday.

The results of the toxicological examination put Toran’s blood alcohol level at .32 percent when he was killed shortly before midnight last Saturday, county coroner’s spokesman Bob Dambacher said.

Under state law, the legal limit at which a person is considered to be driving under the influence of alcohol is .10 percent.

“That’s the only drug found in his system,” Dambacher said. “Everything else proved negative.”

To reach a blood alcohol level of .32 percent, a 154-pound person would have to quickly drink 10 bottles of beer or 10 ounces of whiskey, according to the American Medical Association’s “Family Medical Guide.”

Toran weighed about 200 pounds, so he presumably would have had to have consumed more alcohol to reach the .32 percent level.

“Wow, that’s getting almost to the unconscious level,” said Dr. Ernest Noble, professor of alcohol studies at UCLA. “For a guy who weighs that much . . . to get to the .32 level, that would be approximately 16 drinks” within 30 minutes to an hour.

“A lot of people, when they reach that level, pass out,” Noble said. “This poor fellow must have been extremely out (of it) when he was driving. In my experience, I’ve rarely seen people hit that high of a level. . . . Obviously he could start the car, but as far as control, he was completely out of whack.”

Noble said that a .40 percent level usually causes death by alcohol poisoning.

Toran, 27, died of “multiple head and chest injuries,” according to the preliminary post-mortem autopsy report. He was killed after he lost control of his 1984 BMW on a curve one block from his home, police said.

Toran was thrown from his car after the vehicle struck a tree and flipped several times. Police said his head struck the pavement.

Greg Townsend, who roomed with Toran at the Raiders’ training camp, said he knew his teammate as a careful driver who always wore a seat belt. But police said Toran was driving without wearing a seat belt.

Toran, who attended Notre Dame, was drafted by the Raiders in the sixth round in 1984. He became the starting strong safety the next year and remained a starter until last year, when he was plagued by injuries.

He played in 12 of the Raiders’ 16 games last season, starting four. He was listed as a first-stringer this summer.

Toran will be buried Friday in his hometown of Indianapolis. A memorial service was held for him at the Maranatha Community Church in Los Angeles Wednesday.

He is survived by his mother, Christine; his father, I.V.; two sisters, 10 brothers and his fiancee, Sherry L. Calhoun.