Drunk and dead...

Sheriff’s office: Shipping CEO Angela Chao, Mitch McConnell’s sister-in-law, was intoxicated at time of fatal car accident

By Sarah Dewberry

Angela Chao, CEO of shipping company Foremost Group and sister of former US cabinet secretary Elaine Chao, was intoxicated at the time of a fatal car accident, according to a 62-page incident report released by the Blanco County Sheriff’s office in Texas.

The report details the night of Feb. 10, when her friends and first responders worked to save Chao after she drove a Tesla into a pond while leaving her Johnson City family ranch.

Chao had been at the ranch with friends, according to the report. The group had dinner and drinks at the guest lodge. At around 11:30 p.m., everyone began returning to their bedrooms or going home.

A video of the exterior of the south side camera captures Chao at 11:37 p.m. walking “unsteadily to her vehicle while continuing to hold her cellular phone in her right hand,” according to the report.

Chao is later seen entering her Tesla. The report stated that the camera then captured the car lurching toward a wooden barrier, reversing, turning to the left without stopping, and over the top of the limestone block wall. Afterward, the vehicle entered the water. A minute later, the vehicle’s lights were no longer visible.

The report goes on to document Chao’s call to a friend and the attempts to rescue her.

At 11:42 p.m., a friend told detectives she received a call from Chao, telling her that “she had driven her vehicle into the pond,” the report states. The friend told law enforcement she advised Chao to leave the car, but Chao said she couldn’t.

The friend stayed on the phone with Chao for eight minutes, as she described water coming into the vehicle, officials said in the report.

The same friend got into a kayak and paddled toward the vehicle, and another friend swam to the car, climbing on top of it and trying to reach Chao, officials stated in the report.

The report said just after midnight, deputies arrived at the ranch.

The ranch manager told the deputies that the back door of the Tesla was open, after which they “attempted multiple times to locate the occupant of the vehicle through the back passenger door but were unable to.”

The report said they attempted to break the front windshield but could not, eventually breaking the driver-side window. 

Once the window was broken, the deputy stated they swam down and felt a hand, which, with the help of a medic, pulled Chao out of the submerged vehicle, which had been in the water for approximately 21 minutes.

“The medics then swam back to the shore with the body and started performing CPR,” according to the report.

The report said first responders pronounced Chao dead at 1:40 a.m.

An autopsy was not performed due to the family citing religious reasons. Toxicology found that Chao’s blood alcohol concentration was 0.233, which, according to the Cleveland Clinic, could cause someone to “experience confusion, vomiting and drowsiness.”

Chao is the sister of Elaine Chao, who is married to Mitch McConnell and served as transportation secretary under President Donald Trump and labor secretary under President George W. Bush.