RALEIGH -- It could be weeks before toxicology tests will allow investigators to say for sure that Garrett Prince was impaired by alcohol when the Jeep he was driving struck a pine tree and killed his high school classmate Elizabeth Molloy.
Still, investigators charged Prince, 16, on Saturday with driving while impaired and provisional driving while impaired. Police spokesman Jim Sughrue says police who arrived at the scene used other means to determine that Prince was driving impaired.
"They availed themselves to the facts and evidence they had at the time to develop enough probable cause to support the DWI and provisional DWI charges," Sughrue said.
Among the evidence police found was at least one unsealed bottle of wine in the passenger seat of the 1999 Jeep Cherokee, according to an arrest warrant.
Prince, of 11004 Coachman's Way in Raleigh, has been in jail since Saturday after the Jeep he was driving ran off Rainwater Road at more than 70 mph. His sole passenger, Molloy, a Millbrook High School student who hoped to study business management at N.C. State University, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The accident took place about 2:15 a.m. Saturday.
At WakeMed, medical workers drew blood from Prince to determine his blood alcohol content, but those test results won't be available for at least four to six weeks, Sughrue said.
State medical examiners did not perform an autopsy on Molloy, but they did take blood samples for toxicology tests, said Sharon Artis, a spokeswoman with the state medical examiner's office.
Police have also charged Prince with felony death by vehicle, careless and reckless driving, speeding over 70 mph in a 30 mph speed zone and possession of alcohol and marijuana.
Police say they are trying to determine who provided Prince with alcohol the night of the accident.
