Davis student dies after night of drinking

DAVIS, Calif. (AP) -- A University of California student who went out drinking to celebrate his 21st birthday died with a blood-alcohol level several times the legal limit, police said.

UC Davis student David Earl Thornton, 21, was taken by his friends to Sutter Davis Hospital early Tuesday after he stopped breathing. Alcohol poisoning is a possible cause, investigators said.

Early reports indicate Thornton's blood-alcohol level was several times the legal limit, officials said. A level of 0.08 is considered evidence of intoxication in California.

An autopsy was planned to determine the exact cause of death. Thornton, a senior majoring in biological sciences, was originally from Fresno, UC Davis spokeswoman Lisa Klionsky said.

Thornton and friends went to a downtown bar to celebrate his 21st birthday, and drank from 9:30 p.m. to about 11:30 p.m., Klionsky said.

Thornton was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, she said. "We do not know if this is a fraternity-associated problem, all we know is he was a member of a fraternity," police Lt. Don Hopkins said.

The death comes one week after a boat carrying members of a UC Davis expedition capsized off the coast of Mexico, killing two UC Davis researchers and three Japanese scientists.

The 21st birthday celebration of a student at the University of California at Davis ended in tragedy yesterday morning when he died with an extremely high blood-alcohol level, police said.

UC Davis senior David Earl Thornton, 21, was taken to Sutter Davis Hospital by his friends Monday night after his lips turned blue and he had trouble breathing, said Davis Police Lt. Don Brooks. Thornton was pronounced dead at 12:13 a.m. yesterday.

Thornton and his friends had spent the night drinking in a downtown bar. Preliminary tests showed that his blood-alcohol level was several times the legal driving limit of 0.08, which is considered evidence of intoxication in California.

Alcohol poisoning is being considered as a possible cause. Brooks said police are also investigating whether narcotics may have played a role in the death, based on information from Thornton's friends.

It is the first alcohol-related death in the 95-year history of the 25,000- student campus, said Carol Wall, UC Davis vice chancellor for student affairs.

It comes just a week after two UC Davis researchers and three Japanese scientists were killed when their research boat capsized off the coast of Mexico.

``We are dealing with a double tragedy here,'' Wall said. 

She said those who knew Thornton are devastated by the incident. ``(He) is described by everyone as just a wonderful human being. He is always in a good mood, he is loyal and a good friend,'' Wall said.

Arriving from Fresno, Thornton majored in biological sciences, achieved a 3.36 grade point average, and was expected to graduate in 2001. He was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, which is on campus probation for drinking and hazing problems.

``Everybody is shocked,'' said a student who answered the phone at the Phi Delta Theta fraternity yesterday. ``We don't have a comment right now.''

But campus officials said Thornton did not live in the fraternity house, and the birthday celebration was not a fraternity event.

``It was the 21st birthday ritual,'' said Jeanne Wilson, director of student judicial affairs. "It is just so tragic, and it is so wasteful of valuable people's lives. All the rules in the world aren't going to matter if we can't change the culture.''

Thornton was drinking with friends at the Paragon Bar and Grill to celebrate his birthday when he became sick and threw up at about 11 p.m. They took him home and then to the hospital at 11:45 p.m.

He stopped breathing on the way to the hospital and died after doctors tried unsuccessfully for 20 minutes to revive him. 

An autopsy was conducted yesterday and results are expected today. A toxicology report could take up to five weeks.

Wall said UC Davis provides extensive education about alcohol abuse and the dangers of binge drinking, reaching out to students even before they come to campus and then repeatedly in the dormitories and through campus clubs. 

UC Davis sophomore Jessica Humble, 19, agreed that the education is pervasive.

``People go to parties on the weekends, but you don't see people abusing it to the point that they will injure themselves,'' she said.

Source: http://www.sfgate.com:80/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/04/05/MN28956.DTL

San Jose Mercury News   4/8/2000
Lethal mix for UC-Davis student
Coroner: Birthday celebration included binge drinking, drugs

DAVIS (AP) -- The University of California-Davis student who died after celebrating his 21st birthday had drugs in his system and a blood-alcohol level of 0.54 percent, Yolo County sheriff's officials said.

David Thornton died Tuesday after consuming 21 drinks to celebrate his 21st birthday.

An autopsy and toxicology analysis found he had alcohol, cocaine, marijuana and Naproxen, an anti-inflammatory drug, in his system at the time he died, said Yolo County Deputy Coroner Mary Koompin-Williams.

Thornton choked to death on his own vomit, and was ``well within the lethal range'' of blood-alcohol levels, said Williams. A blood-alcohol level of 0.40 percent is generally considered lethal, according to the autopsy report. The legal limit for driving while intoxicated is 0.08 percent.

Thornton had a 3.36 college grade-point average, led his Clovis West High School class in Fresno and volunteered for the National Ski Patrol. He had hoped to attend law school after completing his degree in biological sciences.

University officials said they thought the "21 for 21'' fad was not widespread, but have learned otherwise. Other experts said the practice started years ago and has become a rite of passage among some students.

Source: http://www7.mercurycenter.com:80/premium/local/docs/drink08.htm

Sacramento Bee   4/9/2000
In wake of death, the beer flows on
by Diana Griego Erwin

Lights throb. Music pulsates. Bodies twist and squirm.

This is The Graduate, just one night spot popular with Davis university students. Thick wooden tables pushed together in the middle of the room are now the dance floor, and it's packed up there. Body to body. Faces lit up by the ecstasy of the music.

If the drinking death of a fellow University of California, Davis, student has put a dent in this frivolity, it isn't evident here.

The lines are four and five deep at the bar, which draws students for its reasonably priced drinks and great dance scene. To the delight of his friends, a young man with gel-spiked hair guzzles beer from a pitcher. Two college women laugh and toss back shooters and return to the dance floor. It's well after midnight and the five bartenders are a constant whirl of motion.

It's been a long, stressful week of university pressures and this is how the culture teaches students to relax and unwind. This Bud's for you. ... It's Miller Time.

UC Davis senior David Thornton died Tuesday trying to have the kind of fun that is going on here, although at a different bar. He wasn't a dumb kid. He'd been his high school valedictorian in Fresno. His studies included rigorous biological sciences course work.

On the night of his death, he'd been engaging in a rite called "21 for 21." Twenty-one drinks on your 21st birthday. According to the police account, Thornton spread them out over a scant hour and a half. Any way you look at it, that's a lot of alcohol. Less than an hour after that last drink, Thornton choked on his own vomit and stopped breathing.

The facts shocked college students throughout the region, but not so much as to deter their own partying on this, the following weekend. A young woman falls off her three-inch platform shoes and giggles. A fraternity brother spills beer on my shoe. A young man at the bar loudly declares his training days in limbo. He orders a pitcher of beer. "I deserve this," he roars.

Some say it was the excess that got Thornton in trouble, and there's some truth in that. Student Mike Smith, 21, said his limit is four or five drinks. His friend, Jared Menkes, 22, said he once downed eight beers. But 21 drinks? No way. That's crazy.

Another student said he'd engaged in the "21 for 21" ritual. "The difference is I threw up in between," he said. He didn't want his name used.

Just slightly away from the bar chaos, a young man slumps wearily over his drink in the glowing neon light of a Budweiser sign. He swirls the mixed concoction and cries. His shoulders shake. He's a Phi Delta Theta fraternity brother. He knew the young man who died.

Every once in a while, someone he knows passes, pats him on the shoulder and continues on to the bar. Dance music bounces off the walls. He never stops crying.

An estimated 50 college students die from binge drinking yearly, deaths that are never pretty. They die alone on bathroom floors. They die surrounded by panicked friends, who thought it was all in fun. These young people never think, ever, that anything tragic will happen to them because, well, because they are different. Young and beautiful. Their whole lives laid out before them.

State law requires bars to stop serving people who are obviously intoxicated, but here in the atmosphere of The Graduate on a weekend night that seems almost impossible. Send over the Alcohol and Beverage Control officials and tell them how to do it. Five bartenders pour drink after drink to an endless wall of eager, waiting patrons. Friends buy for friends. Wall to wall revelers. How would they ever keep track?

Under the Budweiser sign, laughing celebrants work around the grieving man, who's become something of a fixture. A young man he brought into the fraternity finally stops and hooks his right arm over his shoulder. His left hand holds a beer. They talk for a good 20 minutes, but the man swirling his drink never stops crying. Here in a bar. Lights and laughter dancing around him, telling him it's OK, even when it isn't.

Source: http://www.sacbee.com:80/news/news/local06_20000409.html