A perfectionist's
life ends with alcohol
The Associated Press
10/16/03 7:41 PMFRANKLIN, La. (AP) -- The LSU student who died after a
night of heavy drinking last week had been warned by his
father about a family history of
alcoholism. According to an account of student Corey Domingue's life
and death,
published in a New Orleans newspaper on Thursday,
Domingue's father and mother had talked with him about the
matter.
Kirk Domingue, a 48-year-old disabled welder, told
Corey about his
own battles with alcohol, and those of his father,
according to the story in The Times-Picayune.
Corey Domingue felt so strongly that he warned his
17-year-old sister, Cherie, that she needed to quit
drinking.
Preliminary autopsy results show that Corey Domingue
himself had become a victim of the bottle. The chemical
engineering sophomore, died early last Friday after drinking
a bottle of rum in his off-campus apartment.
His blood alcohol level was 0.43 percent -- a lethal
level for most people, East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner's
Office spokesman Don Moreau said.
He was described as a perfectionist who had been a high
school football player and an honor roll student. His plan
was to go to LSU, excel as he always had, and use his
chemical engineering degree to get a good job.
But he also liked to drink. And last Thursday night he
and a few friends gathered at his off-campus apartment with
liquor bought at a grocery store with Domingue's fake ID,
according to the newspaper account.
The idea, said friend and fellow student Kerry Michel,
was to have a few drinks and just hang out at the apartment.
They bought vodka, bourbon and a bottle of rum, remembered
Joe Breaux, another friend -- "some real cheap rum."
Sometime after midnight Thursday, Breaux and Michel
helped Domingue to the bathroom inside the apartment. They
had watched him drink rum and cokes and the rum was all but
gone.
His friends decided they would check on him through the
night and let Domingue, as Breaux said, "sleep it off."
Later, the Domingue family would get word that Breaux and
Michel had found him gurgling at 4:30 a.m., that they had
called 911 afraid he couldn't breathe, and then called back,
frantic, because he was dying right there on the bathroom
floor.
They started CPR. Paramedics arrived and took him to Our
Lady of the Lake Hospital. Medical workers tried to revive
him. They failed. His blood-alcohol content was found to be
.43, enough to reduce brain function to the point where he
wasn't breathing.
Cherie Domingue told the newspaper that she knew that her
brother drank and that she felt guilty because she had kept
the secret. After Corey's death, she confessed the news to
her father.
"Baby," he told her, "Corey made his choice. Not you."
Copy from the Times Picayune
in New Orleans
10/15/03
The
Advocate
A preliminary report shows that 19-year-old Corey James Domingue
died with a blood alcohol level of 0.43 after drinking a bottle of rum
in his apartment near LSU Thursday night, an East Baton Rouge Parish
Coroner's Office spokesman said Tuesday.A blood alcohol level of 0.30 can be lethal. In Louisiana, motorists
with a 0.08 blood alcohol level can be arrested for driving while
intoxicated. "State Police (breathalyzers) used to only go to 0.395," coroner
spokesman Don Moreau said. "(He) was 0.43, that's well into the toxic
level of alcohol." Baton Rouge Police say Domingue was
drinking in his apartment on 1221 Bob Pettit Drive with six other
people. They told police they were studying for a test.
Police Cpl. Don Kelly would not disclose their names, saying the
investigation is ongoing. "At the moment we believe he
bought the alcohol himself," Kelly said. Police also believe Domingue
drank voluntarily and purchased the rum with a fake Texas driver's
license, Kelly said. Domingue, a chemical engineering sophomore from
Franklin, died at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center at 6:05
a.m. Friday, Moreau said. LSU Chancellor Mark Emmert expressed his
condolences. "I know I speak for the entire LSU family when I say how
very saddened we all are to learn of the tragic death of one of our
students," he wrote. He continued, "We must take care of each other by
intervening with friends who drink too much or too frequently."
Emmert asked campus activist groups to increase efforts to address
alcohol abuse. A spokeswoman for the Campus-Community
Coalition for Change said her organization will place an ad in the
campus newspaper, The Reveille, every day, promoting responsible
behavior and teaching students how to identify and respond to alcohol
poisoning.
10/14/03
Police: Teen dies after drinking rum (from
the Advocate)
A 19-year-old LSU student died Friday after
drinking an entire bottle of rum in his off-campus apartment in front of
friends, police said. Corey James Domingue of Franklin was taken to Our
Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center about 5 a.m. Friday, where he
died, Cpl. Don Kelly said.
Witnesses told detectives they went to Domingue's apartment at 1221 Bob
Pettit Drive on Thursday night to study for a test, Kelly said. Domingue
then drank a fifth of rum, Kelly said. About 12:30 a.m., Domingue said
he felt sick and began throwing up in the bathroom, Kelly said.
Domingue's friends checked on him in the bathroom later and found him
asleep, Kelly said. At 4:30 a.m., one of them went into the bathroom,
found him "having difficulty breathing" and called 911, Kelly said.
Kelly said he doesn't anticipate any charges against anyone at the
apartment. "There's nothing to
indicate anyone there did anything wrong or illegal," he said. "It
doesn't involve a bar. It doesn't involve a fraternity. It's just a kid
who drank until he died. There's no evidence of foul play or negligence.
Just a bunch of kids drinking."
LSU spokesman Gene Sands on Monday said he hadn't heard that authorities
confirmed the death was alcohol-related because police, not LSU Police,
were handling the case. "We are indeed saddened by this event, and our
prayers and thoughts go out to his family," he said. "It's a tragic
event anytime anyone dies. We are always very concerned with our
students' safety and well-being."
Story reported by WAFB
Corey Domingue, LSU
Student dies binge drinking at apartment off campus
(Baton Rouge-AP) -- A 19-year-old LSU
student is dead after drinking an entire bottle of rum in his off-campus
apartment in front of friends. Baton Rouge police Corporal Don Kelly
says Corey James Domingue of Franklin died Friday at an area hospital.
Domingue's friends told detectives they were at his apartment Thursday
night to study for a test and at some point, Domingue drank a fifth of
rum. Around 12:30 Friday morning, Kelly says Domingue began feeling sick
and started vomiting in a bathroom. Kelly says his friends checked on
him in the bathroom and found him asleep. At 4:30 a.m., Kelly says one
of Domingue's friends went into the bathroom and found him having
trouble breathing and called 911. Kelly says he doesn't
anticipate any charges being filed because there's no evidence of foul
play or negligence -- just a kid who drank until he died
.LSU spokesman Gene Sands says the
university community is deeply saddened by Domingue's death and their
prayers and thoughts go out to his family.
It doesn't involve a fraternity. It's just a kid who drank until
he died. There's no evidence of foul play or negligence. Just a
bunch of kids drinking."
Instead the statement by Cpl Kelly was made that totally discounted
alcohol as a drug, and any accountability for anyone who illegally
provides it to youth--
As long as it remains "cool" to "party" we are going to have these
problems.
The minute serious consequences become clear that if you buy, provide,
host, support youth with illegal access to booze you go to jail---and
if you contribute to their death--you face murder
charges---believe me
things will change!
But people do what they believe is "ok" "limited in risk"
basically if they believe they can get away with buying kids,
selling kids, providing kids with alcohol the do.
Either Alcohol is
a drug or it is not.
Either it is illegal for those under 21 or it is not.
Either there are consequences for providing illegal access to alcohol
and related harm or there is not.
The suggestion by Cpl Kelly Above sends the message "kids will be
kids" and deters action to protect the safety and health of our
children. It says that the person who sold Corey the alcohol is
not responsible, it also says that there is no need for an urgent
public education and information campaign to prevent the same
occurrence in the future.
From Louisiana Alert Page during 2003
Killer Environment!
A culture that must change.
Louisiana19 year old LSU Students death
" Corey's Death"
and our efforts to reduce risks, and to reach policy makers that fell on deaf ears.
We know that alcohol problems are
genetic and environmental, and the recent LSU alcohol poisoning death, is
even more tragic knowing a family in recovery from
alcoholism read
more had warned their son, but had little control over the
environment, which science tells us has great impact on our youth,
especially those at risk!
Appears we have a deadly problem
More
alcohol poisoning deaths see Ben Wynne news clips
After Ben Wynne's needless death, you would think there would be a much
different message to the public, but it appears we still need a common
sense approach to this deadly problem in our culture.....see
"Louisiana News" for more information on Corey's death, and related
information to alcohol/youth policy in Louisiana
|
Alcohol
and the Environment
