The CEO of a shipping company and sister-in-law of retiring Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Angela Chao, crashed her Tesla into a lake at a Texas ranch last month, killing everyone inside. The Blanco County Sheriff’s Office reports that Chao was under the influence at the time.
A terrifying description of the night of February 10, following a night of drinking with friends, is provided in a 62-page incident report. Chao was trapped in her car when Angela Chao accidentally reversed into a lake.
According to the report, Angela Chao “said her good byes” as the water level in the car increased, and she called her friend for assistance.
Her lifeless body was eventually removed from the car by emergency personnel after the pals made a desperate attempt but were unable to get her out of it in time.
Chao’s blood alcohol concentration was measured by toxicology to be 0.233, which is roughly three times over the permitted limit. An individual may “experience confusion, vomiting, and drowsiness” at a level of 0.15 to 0.3, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Angela Chao died in an “unfortunate accident,” according to the report.
Because of her closeness to authority, Chao’s disappearance has gained extra meaning. She was the sister of Elaine Chao, the transportation secretary in the Trump administration and McConnell’s wife, and the CEO of the shipping company Foremost Group. In announcing his intention to resign as GOP leader last month, the 82-year-old Republican senator made mention of the disappearance of his sister-in-law.
As some of you may be aware, my family has been going through a really trying moment right now. Only a few weeks ago, Elaine’s younger sister Angela passed very sadly,” he stated. “There is a certain introspection that goes along with the grieving process when you lose a loved one, especially if the loss occurs when you are young. Maybe this is God’s way of helping you refocus on the significance of the world that each of us will eventually leave behind by reminding you of your own life’s journey.
From a Pitbull show to a terrible demise, the story states that on Friday, February 9, Harvard graduate and Austin resident Chao got together with some pals for a weekend where they went to see a Pitbull show. The next day, according to the story, the party went on a tour of her family’s Johnson City ranch.
After dinner and drinks in the guest lodge, at approximately 11:30 p.m., everyone started heading back to their respective homes or bedrooms.
According to the report, Chao can be seen going “unsteadily to her vehicle while continuing to hold her cellular phone in her right hand” at 11:37 p.m. in a video taken from the outside of the south side camera.
Later on, Chao is spotted getting into her Tesla. The car was then shown on camera lurching toward a wooden barrier, retreating, turning left without halting, and going over the top of the block wall made of limestone, according to the report. The car then went into the sea. After a minute, the lights on the car were no longer visible.
Chao asked a friend for assistance while she was inside, and other people arrived to try to save her.
Chao called a friend at 11:42 p.m. to inform her that “she had driven her vehicle into the pond,” according to the report. Chao refused to leave the car when her buddy asked her to, and the friend later told police that Chao couldn’t.
The buddy spoke with Chao on the phone for eight minutes, during which time she recounted water getting inside the car, according to the report from the officials. According to the report from the officials, the friend also got into a kayak and paddled toward the car, while another friend swam to the car and attempted to climb on top of it in an attempt to get to Chao.
Deputies showed up at the ranch shortly after midnight.
Following the deputies’ notification that the Tesla’s rear door was open, the ranch manager said, “we made several attempts to find the vehicle’s occupant through the rear passenger door, but we were not successful.”
They eventually cracked the driver-side glass after failing in their effort to shatter the front windshield, according to the complaint.
After the window was shattered, the deputy reported that they reached down, touched a hand, and with the assistance of a medic, extracted Chao from the submerged car. For almost twenty-one minutes, the car had been submerged in water.
According to the report, “the medics then swam back to the shore with the body and started performing CPR.”
According to the investigation, Chao was declared deceased by first responders around 1:40 a.m. The family claimed religious grounds for not having an autopsy done.