Coroner now says snowmobiler who died was drunk

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Updated: February 26, 2012 8:12AM

Lake County Coroner Artis Yancey reported Tuesday the snowmobiler that died late Friday had over twice the legal limit of alcohol in his system when he crashed.

On Monday, Yancey said it appeared alcohol or drugs were not a factor in the fatal snowmobile crash that killed Shane Diaz, 39, of Volo.

“The initial reports and preliminary test said he had not been drinking,” Yancey said Tuesday, citing witness reports that indicated Diaz was not swerving or acting intoxicated. The coroner’s office still routinely gets a toxicology screening of victims in accidents. That test came back with a 1.81 alcohol reading. The legal limit is .08.

Diaz, from the 700 block of Beethoven Street in Volo, hit a cable gate — a cable with some yellow sleeves on it between two posts — on Lake County Forest Preserve property. Diaz died of trauma to the upper torso and neck. Wauconda paramedics tried to revive him on the scene.

The accident occurred near Lakewood Forest Preserve near the intersection of Fairfield and Gossell roads just before 10 p.m. when Diaz, who was wearing a helmet, went off the marked trail with another snowmobiler and hit the cable. The other rider was not injured.