Jackass star drunk in fatal crash: police

Jackass star Ryan Dunn had a blood-alcohol content that was more than twice the legal limit when he and a passenger died in a fiery one-car crash this week, according to a toxicology report.

Dunn's Porsche may have been travelling as fast as 225 kph in a 90 kph zone when it jumped a guardrail, flew into a wooded ravine, struck a tree and burst into flames, police said.

His blood-alcohol level was 0.196 at the time of the Monday morning crash, according to the toxicology report released on Wednesday by West Goshen Township Police. The legal limit for drivers is .08.

Dunn, 34, and his passenger Zachary Hartwell, 30, died early on Monday after they left a West Chester bar called Barnaby's of America. Hours before the crash, Dunn tweeted a photo from the bar of the pair and a third man drinking. The photo has since been taken down.

Employees at the bar said Dunn was not visibly intoxicated at any point that night and surveillance video shared with police supported those observations, said Frank Herron, the bar's general manager.

"He spoke clearly. He walked clearly. He came in hop, skip, jumping. He left hop, skip, jumping," Herron told The Associated Press. "If these results are true, I'm shocked at it. We were very confident that he had not had that much."

Herron said the bar contacted the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board right after the death and was co-operating with state and local officials in the investigation.

According to court documents, Dunn was charged in April 2005 with driving under the influence after crashing his car in West Whiteland Township, about three kilometers from Monday's crash site. The documents show he successfully completed a programme designed for first-time, non-violent offenders that allows charges to be dismissed after defendants finish the program.

More court documents showed that Dunn had been cited for speeding several times since 1998.

Dunn appeared on MTV shows Jackass and Viva La Bam and the three Jackass big-screen adaptations. He also was the star of his own MTV show, Homewrecker, and just began hosting the show Proving Ground on the G4 cable network.

G4 said it pulled Proving Ground and would decide whether to continue airing it.

Dunn also starred in the yet-to-be-released film Living Will. The film's website describes Dunn's character as a "party bum slacker (who) returns from the dead as a mischievous and perverted ghost".

The force of Monday's crash shattered Dunn's 2007 Porsche 911 GT3 into several twisted and blackened pieces, leaving the car unrecognisable except for a door that was thrown from the crash. A 30-meter-long tire skid marked where the car left the roadway.

Both Dunn and Hartwell, a production assistant for the second Jackass movie, were severely burned. Police said they identified Dunn because of his tattoos and hair.

The toxicology report said Dunn did not have "drugs of abuse" in his system. The term encompasses illegal drugs like heroin, cocaine and marijuana, said Chief Deputy Coroner David Garver. The coroner's office was still awaiting the results of tests that would indicate the presence of prescription drugs, Garver said.

Dunn was born in Ohio and moved at age 15 to Pennsylvania, where he met fellow Jackass cast mate Bam Margera on his first day of high school, according to a biography posted on his website.

Margera visited the crash site on Tuesday, telling WTXF-TV that he was devastated by Dunn's death.

"I've never lost anybody that I cared about. It's my best friend," he told WTXF, weeping. "He was the happiest person ever, the smartest guy. He had so much talent, and he had so many things going for him. This is not right, not right."