A new toxicology report from the Georgia State Patrol has confirmed that Phillip Lutzenkirchen, a former tight end at Auburn University, and Joseph Ian Davis, the driver, were both intoxicated during a one-car crash that killed both young men.
According to the Associated Press, the report found Lutzenkirchen's blood-alcohol level was 0.377 early in the morning on June 30 and Davis' was 0.17, though the legal limit in Georgia is 0.08. Lutzenkirchen, 23, was a fan favorite on the Auburn Tigers team that won the 2010 BCS National Championship.
Davis was driving Chevrolet Tahoe the night of the crash when the car apparently overturned, throwing Lutzenkirchen and another passenger named Elizabeth Craig from the vehicle. While Davis was partially ejected from the driver's seat, Craig and Christian Case survived the crash with various injuries.
The traffic crash report shows that an officer was dispatched to the scene at 3:17 a.m. A neighborhood resident near the scene of the crash told WSBTV Craig and Case knocked on her door and asked her to call the police.
"It wasn't maybe 10 minutes until [the police] were out here," the neighbor said. "That was about 3 o'clock this morning."
Shortly after the crash, Lutzenkirchen's family held a public memorial service at his high school football field, the AP reported. Gus Malzhan, Auburn's current head football coach, recruited Lutzenkirchen when he became the Tigers' offensive coordinator in 2008.
"He'll be remembered as one of the best players to ever put on an Auburn jersey. No doubt," Malzhan said at the ceremony. "I'm a little stiff and he always had a joke to make me smile, especially in pressure situations.
"And I'm going to miss that."
Lutzenkirchen's father said his son was his "best friend" and that he would have been a bit bashful if he saw the kind of attention he was getting.
"There's a new tight end in heaven," Mike Lutzenkirchen said at the ceremony. "He catches everything."
