JOHNSON CITY, Texas (AP) – Angela Chao, a shipping industry CEO and sister-in-law of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, drunkenly plunged into a pond in Texas last month. He died, a law enforcement report said. Wednesday.
An investigation by the Blanco County Sheriff's Office concluded that Chao's death was an “unfortunate accident” and that his blood alcohol level was nearly three times the state legal limit.
Chao, 50, died on the night of Feb. 10 after having dinner with a large group at a ranch in Johnson City, west of Austin. The report describes a frantic scene in which Chao's friends and deputies tried to pull him out of the Tesla after he submerged it in the water.
The friend told detectives that Chao called him at 11:42 p.m. and told him his car had fallen into a pond and that he was trapped inside.
Law enforcement officers and firefighters eventually pulled Chao from the car and to shore, where he was pronounced dead at 1:40 a.m. on February 11. Toxicology tests revealed that Chao's blood alcohol level was 0.233 grams per 100 grams. This exceeds Texas' legal limit of 0.08 grams per 100 milliliters, the report said.
Chao was chairman and CEO of his family's shipping company, Foremost Group, and chairman of his father's charity, the Foremost Foundation. She lived in Austin, about 50 miles east of Blanco County.
Her eldest brother, Elaine Chao, is married to McConnell and served as Secretary of Transportation under President Donald Trump and Secretary of Labor under President George W. Bush.
Ms. Chao is survived by her husband, father, and four sisters.
