CARLSBAD: Teen who died in hit-and-run may have taken jimson weed
Carlsbad High School senior Steven Kelley apparently drank teamade from the hallucinogenic jimson weed the night he was killed bya suspected hit-and-run driver, a Carlsbad police officerinvestigating the crash said Thursday.
The same concoction caused Kelley’s friend to temporarily losesanity during a movie that night, Officer Jon Boyce said.
The friend was restrained by police and taken to thehospital.
Kelley, 18, died March 5 after being struck by two cars onnorthbound El Camino Real, just south of Camino Vida Roble.
He was crossing the street from the eastern sidewalk between twolit intersections when he was hit in the left lane, Carlsbad policeLt. Marc Reno said.
The first car that hit him didn’t stop, police said.
The next day, 44-year-old Carlsbad resident Lisa Hutchinsoncontacted police, Reno said.
She said she had hit something the night before and went back tothe area later but couldn’t find anything, he said.
Police believe she was the first driver.
After their investigation is complete, police will ask thedistrict attorney’s office to consider filing charges, Renosaid.
Earlier in the night, Kelly and four friends went to see “Alicein Wonderland” at the UltraStar La Costa 6 on El Camino Real, Boycesaid.
His friends said Kelley brought a water bottle full of homemadejimson weed tea into the theater and offered it around.
A 17-year-old male friend partook.
That teen ended up out of control, prompting the theater managerto call 911, Boyce said.
“He was screaming, shouting, jumping over rows in the movietheater,” Boyce said the manager told police.
Police controlled the teen and he was taken to the hospital,Boyce said. He had recovered by the next day.
Kelley left the theater with one of his friends, Boyce said.
Before he was hit, one witness reported him jaywalking intraffic, the officer said.
Jimson weed is a wild-growing, toxic plant that produceshallucinations when consumed.
People sometimes ingest a tea made from its leaves or seeds,smoke it or eat it.
According to the National Institutes of Health, jimson weedpoisoning can cause severe dehydration, convulsions, nausea and, invery rare cases, death.
Treatment usually requires a hospital stay.
The common plant grows about 4 to 6 feet tall and ischaracterized by long-stemmed, dark leaves and trumpet-shaped whiteflowers.
It is found in diverse terrains, often growing along roads, andit is not illegal to use.
While not one of the more commonly abused substances, its use isage-old.
Boyce said Kelley’s friends said they didn’t know where he gotit, but they were aware recipes for jimson weed tea were availableon the Internet.
Kelley died of multiple blunt-force injuries, according to themedical examiner’s office.
But police are still completing a traffic investigation, andthey are reconstructing the collision, Reno said.
The toxicology report notes that Kelley’s preliminary bloodscreen indicated the likely presence of marijuana.
That test has not been confirmed, the report notes.
Chief Medical Examiner Glenn Wagner said Kelley’s postmortemtoxicology test did not show any of the chemical constituents ofjimson weed.
However, Wagner said he isn’t confident the county’sstate-of-the-art lab or any other toxicology lab uses screeningmethods that would reliably show the presence of jimson weed.
He said jimson weed and other herbal, noncontrolled substancesappear to be popular.
Because the medical examiner rarely detects them suggests it’stime to look at developing a screening method for them, hesaid.
“I suspect that what we see here, the patterns and trends, arevery different than what is in fact out there,” Wagner said.
In 2004, Carlsbad mourned Eric Sears, a 17-year-old CarlsbadHigh School graduate who died while camping with a friend in JoshuaTree National Park after drinking jimson weed tea.
Sears wandered into the surrounding desert, where his body waslater found.
Authorities speculated the drug may have prompted hallucinationsand dehydration that contributed to his death.
Call staff writer Sarah Gordon at 760-740-3517.