Crime & Safety
Autopsy Rules Olson Drowning Accidental
Alcohol and cocaine were in the system of the 20-year-old college student from Lafayette who fell in water from float party down the Sacramento River on Labor Day weekend.
Glenn County officials on Monday classified the drowning death of Brett Olson of Lafayette as accidental, and said that his system had a high level of alcohol and he had recently used cocaine.
Olson, 20, a student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo from Lafayette, went missing during a Labor Day weekend float down the Sacramento River from Beer Can Beach. A fisherman found his body a week later downstream on the river.
Olson's blood alcohol content was 0.28 percent, said Glenn County Undersheriff Rich Warren, according to a piece by the Chico Enterprise-Record. Alcohol levels can increase about 0.05 percent after death, the undersheriff said — even with that correction, his blood alcohol level was almost three times the legal driving limit. The sheriff's office received autopsy results Monday.
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More than 1,000 people turned out for a memorial service for Olson Sept. 11 at Acalanes High School in Lafayette. In the days after Sept. 2, hundreds of friends and volunteers turned out to search the river and spread the word of "Bretty's" disappearance via social media.
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