Crash That Killed Aubrey McClendon Was Accident -- 2nd Update
June 08 2016 - 01:44PM
Dow Jones News
By Erin Ailworth and Kevin Helliker
The Oklahoma medical examiner ruled the crash that killed shale
pioneer Aubrey McClendon was an accident, according to the autopsy
report released Wednesday.
No alcohol was involved in the accident, but an unspecified
amount of one drug -- doxylamine, which can be used as an
antihistamine or to treat insomnia -- was found in Mr. McClendon's
system, the report said.
Mr. McClendon suffered a number of injuries in the
single-vehicle crash, including several broken ribs, a broken
pelvis and a broken back, as well as lacerations to several
internal organs, according to the autopsy report.
Those findings are consistent with the medical examiner's
previous determination that the former chief executive of
Chesapeake Energy Corp. died of multiple blunt force trauma.
The report shows that while Mr. McClendon's heart was damaged by
the crash, he didn't appear to suffer a heart-related medical
event.
After reviewing the findings, Paul Thompson, chief cardiologist
at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut, said it is almost certain a
heart problem didn't cause the crash, but the possibility can't
completely be ruled out because an autopsy wouldn't detect an
arrhythmia.
The deadly crash on March 2 occurred one day after Mr. McClendon
was indicted on a single count of conspiring to rig the price of
oil and gas leases. The U.S. Justice Department dropped that charge
in the wake of Mr. McClendon's death.
The state autopsy report comes a day after The Wall Street
Journal reported that the Oklahoma City Police Department said its
two-month probe into the crash didn't find any reason to suggest
Mr. McClendon committed suicide.
Police investigators concluded that when the oil-and-gas
executive crashed his natural gas-fueled Chevy Tahoe into a bridge
it was an accident, though suicide wasn't officially ruled out.
They previously disclosed that Mr. McClendon was driving as fast as
89 miles an hour in the moments before his sport-utility vehicle
struck a concrete underpass, and quickly caught fire. He wasn't
wearing a seat belt, according to the crash report.
The 56-year-old wildcatter helped launch a renaissance in U.S.
energy production by leasing land around the country to extract oil
and gas trapped in shale-rock formations through hydraulic
fracturing, or fracking. Mr. McClendon's aggressive approach made
him a billionaire at one point, but his appetite for financial risk
also caused him trouble, eventually leading Carl Icahn and other
activist investors to oust him from Chesapeake in 2013.
Financial problems also forced Mr. McClendon to use some of his
remaining wealth -- including his minority stake in the Oklahoma
City Thunder basketball team -- as collateral to pursue a second
act in energy when oil and gas prices plunged.
It is unclear what, if any, impact the police and medical
examiner reports will have in the probate case just starting to
unfold in an Oklahoma City court. Creditors with claims totaling
hundreds of millions of dollars have appeared in that case,
although few details about Mr. McClendon's estate have been made
public.
Write to Erin Ailworth at Erin.Ailworth@wsj.com and Kevin
Helliker at kevin.helliker@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 08, 2016 13:29 ET (17:29 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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