
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 7, 1990                   TAG: 9003072006
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: EVENING  
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ANCHORAGE, ALASKA                                 LENGTH: Medium

EXXON SKIPPER DRUNK, TOXICOLOGIST SAYS

A toxicologist said he "calculated backward" and found that Joseph Hazelwood was drunk when the Exxon Valdez ran aground even though the skipper's blood wasn't tested until 10 1/2 hours later.

Richard Prouty, who on Tuesday was the prosecution's 45th and final witness in its case against Hazelwood, was expected to face tough cross-examination today on the hotly disputed alcohol issue before leaving the stand.

Hazelwood's lawyers contend the captain wasn't drunk while commanding the tanker, which rammed a reef March 24 in the nation's worst oil spill. They were expected to challenge Prouty with their own experts when the defense opens its case.

Prouty, chief forensic toxicologist with the Oklahoma medical examiner's office, said he used a combination of figures to "calculate backward" from blood and urine tests done on Hazelwood 10 1/2 hours after the grounding.

He said Hazelwood's blood alcohol level would have been .14 percent at 12:05 a.m. when the tanker ran aground in Prince William Sound.

The legal limit in Alaska for driving a car is .10 percent. The Coast Guard has a limit of .04 for operating a commercial vessel, but jurors weren't told of the regulation because Hazelwood is charged under state law, not federal.

Crew members have testified that except for alcohol on his breath, their captain showed no signs of being drunk when he boarded the ship in Valdez four hours before the grounding. And they said he was calm and in control of the ship after the disaster.

But Prouty said he has seen cases of men with a blood alcohol level of .20 who showed no signs of being drunk.

Assistant District Attorney Brent Cole asked whether Prouty would consider a person with a level of .14 to be impaired in reasoning and decision-making.

"It is my opinion they definitely would be impaired," Prouty said.

Hazelwood, 43, of Huntington, N.Y., is charged with criminal mischief, reckless endangerment, operating a vessel while intoxicated and negligent discharge of oil. He could get up to 7\ years in prison and $61,000 in fines.

The Exxon Valdez spilled nearly 11 million gallons of Alaska crude into Prince William Sound, killing countless birds, fish and other wildlife and polluting hundreds of miles of rocky shoreline with black goo.

In 4 1/2 weeks of testimony, prosecutors have sought to show that Hazelwood was reckless in leaving a third mate in charge of the bridge during the ship's passage into the sound. They maintained also that he recklessly tried to run the ship off Bligh Reef after the grounding.

by CNB