Hart family: driver was drunk at time of accident

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The driver of an SUV that drove off a cliff into the Pacific Ocean late last month was legally intoxicated at the time of the accident that left at least five Woodland residents dead, California Highway Patrol is reporting.

At a press conference on April 13, California Highway Patrol Captain Bruce Carpenter said that the preliminary toxicology reports released the previous day showed that Jennifer Hart, the driver of the vehicle, had a blood alcohol level above the legal limit. The San Francisco CBS affiliate station who shared the video of the press conference added Carpenter said it was .102, above the .08 legal limit in California.

Carpenter added that preliminary reports showed Jennifer’s wife, Sarah, and two of the three children in the crash had “a significant amount of the ingredient primarily in Benadryl” which is known to cause drowsiness.

Carpenter also reiterated preliminary data that showed no one in the vehicle was wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash.

Carpenter said the California Highway Patrol was working closely with the FBI to track where the Harts were preceding the accident by using cell phone data. The bureau will continue to help with the investigation, with Carpenter adding that that they would be deploying a behavioral analysis unit to help local law enforcement in understanding the nature of the crash.



The news follows the discovery of a body April 7 near the scene of the March 26 crash that left at least Jennifer and Sarah Hart along with children Markis, Abigail and Jeremiah dead. The body could be one of the three missing children: Hannah, DeVonte and Sierra Hart.

In report from the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office the day of the discovery, the body appeared to be of an African American female which would rule out DeVonte, but an age or positive identity could not be determined. The report noted it could be weeks before a positive ID of the body.

The California Highway Patrol also previously reported that the crash was likely intentional. In a press conference April 1 the department said software data from the SUV indicated that the crash off of Highway 1 may have been intentional as the vehicle came to rest about 70 feet from the edge of a scenic turnout before accelerating straight forward.

The Hart family had been residents of North Clark County since May 2017 according to property records, living at a Woodland address. Regional reporting has revealed that the family had a case opened by Washington State Department of Social and Health Services days before the crash.