KEY POINTS:
A teenager found dead with a can of beer in a wrecked car following a head-on crash had drunk only a "negligible" amount alcohol, police say.
Officers who attended the scene of the Taranaki collision between the car and a milk tanker initially reported that Hamish Ray Bourke, 17, of Hawera, had a bottle of beer in his hand after impact.
Regional rural area police commander Inspector Frank Grant yesterday told the Taranaki Daily News that the bottle was found on his "upper body" and that blood tests had revealed only six milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of Hamish's blood.
The legal limit for a driver under 20 is 30mg and the adult limit is 80mg.
"In terms of alcohol content it was negligible," Mr Grant said.
The alcohol reading would equate to having "a couple of sips" of beer.
Hamish's car had veered across the centre line into the path of the tanker, but Mr Grant said the small amount of alcohol in his system should not have affected his driving.
A spokeswoman for coronial services in Palmerston North said an inquest into the death had been delayed, and would not be held until next year.
- NZPA
