Teen Driver Who Killed Bicyclist Was Very High

A car crash in Hinesburg, Vt., in April left the teen driver of the car, as well as the 47-year-old bicyclist he hit, dead. Now, a police report indicates that 17-year-old Joseph Marshall had marijuana in his system, and apparently a lot of it, reports the Burlington Free Press. The police report, obtained after the newspaper filed a public-records query, showed that Joseph had 36 nanograms of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC—pot's active ingredient—in his system. To put that in context, the newspaper notes that two states where smoking marijuana is legal have DUI limits of 5 nanograms, which means that Joseph would have been cruising around at seven times the THC limit if he were driving there.

Vermont law, meanwhile, considers a driver under the influence if "any measurable amount" of THC is found, per the town police chief's report. Alicia Marshall, Joseph's mother, says she "knew my son was smoking pot," she told the paper in a phone interview. And local police say Joseph was a well-known entity who had repeatedly been told to stop speeding around town. Investigators determined Joseph was driving between 83 and 88mph on a stretch of road where the speed limit increases from 30 to 40mph. Bicyclist Richard Tom, 47, was less than half-a-mile from his home when he was hit on April 26; the impact slammed his body into a tree, and his body traveled another 41 feet. (A new study compared drunk and stoned drivers.)