Driver in California Plunge That Killed Family Was Drunk, Officials Say

The woman who was driving a sport utility vehicle when it plunged off a 100-foot cliff into the Pacific Ocean with her family aboard last month was drunk, the California Highway Patrol said Friday.

The woman, Jennifer Hart, was killed in the Northern California crash, as were her wife, Sarah Hart, and at least three of their six adopted children. The other three children have not yet been accounted for.

According to toxicology tests, Jennifer Hart, 38, had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.102 percent, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Friday. In California, it is illegal for drivers to have a level of 0.08 percent or higher.

The toxicology tests also found that Sarah Hart, 38, and two of their children had “a significant amount” of diphenhydramine — an ingredient commonly found in medicines like the allergy drug Benadryl that can cause drowsiness — in their systems, Capt. Bruce Carpenter of the California Highway Patrol said at a news conference Friday.

The Mendocino County coroner was awaiting toxicology tests of the third child.

Last week, the authorities said the crash may have been intentional, noting that the vehicle had stopped on a dirt pullout off Highway 1 in Mendocino County, California, before accelerating 70 feet to the cliff’s edge.

“It was pure acceleration from the last brake application until it hit the bottom of the cliff,” Greg Baarts, acting assistant chief of the California Highway Patrol’s northern division, said at the time.

Carpenter in an email Friday said the authorities were still looking at the crash as “a deliberate act,” adding that the presence of alcohol would be a consideration in the investigation’s final findings. “Until then, we are unable to speculate on the effect the alcohol may have played,” he said.

On March 26, investigators recovered the bodies of the parents inside the car and three children — Markis, 19; Jeremiah, 14; and Abigail, 14 — outside the car. The authorities were still searching for the other three children: Hannah, 16; Devonte, 15; and Sierra, 15.

A body identified as African-American and female was found floating near the crash site on April 7. The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office said it may be Hannah or Sierra. An autopsy was conducted Tuesday, but the results may not be known for weeks, the office said.

No one in the vehicle, a GMC Yukon, was wearing a seat belt, Carpenter said Friday. He also said that before the crash, the family had stopped in Naselle, Washington, about a 90-minute drive northwest of Woodland, Washington, where they lived. Officials were not yet sure why.

Just days before the crash, the mothers had been reported to the state over allegations of abuse or neglect, according to a spokeswoman for the Washington state Department of Social and Health Services.

The department tried to contact the family at their home the day it received the complaint, March 23, but were unsuccessful. It tried again on the day of the crash and once more the day after that.

In 2014, the family gained some fame when a photograph of a tearful Devonte, who is black, embracing a white police officer at a protest against police violence drew widespread attention.