Shipping CEO Angela Chao intoxicated when she drove into pond, police say

Angela Chao, the chief executive of a shipping company and the sister of former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, was intoxicated when she drove into a Texas pond and died last month, according to a police report released on Wednesday.

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Chao, 50, the sister-in-law of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, had a blood alcohol content level of 0.233 when she was pronounced dead during the early hours of Feb. 11, according to a report obtained by the Austin American-Statesman. That is nearly three times the legal limit to drive in Texas, which, according to the Texas Department of Transportation, is 0.08.

The report, released by the Blanco County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday, found that Chao inadvertently reversed her Tesla SUV into a stock pond at a ranch near Johnson City and drowned as rescue efforts failed, USA Today reported.

According to the report, Chao had invited seven friends to the ranch in central Texas for a weekend getaway, the American-Statesman reported.

At about 11:30 p.m., the guests began to return to their bedrooms or to their homes, The New York Times reported. Chao then entered her Tesla and reversed into the pond, according to the incident report.

A friend told investigators that Chao called her at 11:42 p.m. to tell her that her car was in the pond and that she was unable to exit the vehicle. She told her friend that the water was rising, adding “she was going to die and said ‘I love you,’” the report stated.

Chao was removed from the vehicle at about 12:56 a.m., Benjamin Oakley, the emergency medical services chief for Blanco County, told USA Today. She was pronounced dead at 1:40 a.m. on Feb. 11, the Times reported.

Chao was married to Jim Breyer, a billionaire venture capitalist and CEO of Breyer Capital in Austin, the American-Statesman reported.

Chao had been the CEO of Foremost Group, owned by her family, the Times reported. The company operates a global fleet of bulk carrier ships that are used to transport items like soybeans and iron ore.

Her older sister, Elaine Chao, served as secretary of transportation under former President Donald Trump and was also secretary of labor under President George W. Bush, according to the newspaper. Elaine Chao is married to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Angela Chao was born in 1973 in Syosset, New York, the Times reported. She graduated from Harvard College and attended Harvard Business School, NBC News reported. She worked in the mergers and acquisitions department of Smith Barney before joining the Foremost Group in 1996, according to the news organization.

Her father fled from mainland China to Taiwan in the late 1940s after Mao Zedong’s communists wrested power from the Nationalists, the Times reported. He moved to the United States in 1958 and helped found the Foremost Group in 1964.

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