Cocaine may have played a role in the fatal accident of a British Jewish philanthropist, a toxicologist said.
Benzion Dunner, 45, was killed this spring when he lost control of his Bentley as he tried to pass another car at 80 miles per hour. Dunner died instantly in the accident, which occurred just days after he had given away some $3.8 million to poor people on the Jewish holiday of Purim.
Toxicologist Dr. Peter Sharp said he found traces of cocaine in Dunner’s blood and urine, according to London’s MailOnline and other British publications, and Dunner had ingested it in the days before his death.
Cocaine can lead the user to make bad decisions, Sharp said, and thus may have affected Dunner’s driving.
“The evidence suggests the driver of the Bentley oversteered but did not make an attempt to correct it or apply the brakes,” Charlotte Wales of the Dorset Police told TimesOnline.
Dunner, a British real estate mogul sometimes known as “God’s Postman” for his philanthropic work, was driving with two of his nine children and a family friend, according to reports. The others survived with light injuries.
