Corrales legally drunk in fatal motorcycle crash in Las Vegas

Former world boxing champion Diego Corrales was driving drunk with more than three times the legal limit of alcohol in his system when he crashed his motorcycle and died.

Photo: Corrales legally drunk in fatal motorcycle crash in Las Vegas

"It's quite possible that had he not been impaired, he could have prevented his accident," Las Vegas police Sgt. Tracy McDonald said Tuesday after toxicology tests showed Corrales' blood-alcohol content was 0.25 percent. The legal limit for drivers in Nevada is 0.08 percent.

"Bottom line, no one else did anything wrong," McDonald said of an investigation that found speed was a factor and no drugs were in Corrales' system when he died May 7 at age 29. "He basically killed himself."

Corrales had a history of drunken driving and was riding without a valid license, court officials and the state Department of Motor Vehicles have said.

Pat Lamparelli, a Corrales family friend, said Tuesday he was not surprised to learn that Corrales had been drinking before he crashed his 2007 Suzuki while trying to pass another vehicle on a busy residential street about seven miles west of the Las Vegas Strip.

"We did know he did drink," Lamparelli said, speaking for Corrales' pregnant wife, Michelle Corrales. "That's what he used to do. That's public knowledge as far as his DUIs and things like that. Unfortunately, that was one of his demons."

Those close to him also knew Corrales as intelligent, charismatic and a risk-taker who never turned down an autograph and liked high-risk sports like scuba diving and snowboarding.

Michelle Corrales is due next month to deliver the couple's fourth child next month, a son to be named Diego Jr., Lamparelli said. The couple had been trying to reconcile after separating earlier this year.

Corrales fought most of his career at 59 kilos (130 pounds), winning lightweight and super featherweight titles while going 40-5 with 33 knockouts.

The crash occurred two years to the day after his most memorable fight, a bout against Jose Luis Castillo in Las Vegas that the Boxing Writers Association of America and numerous boxing publications called the fight of the year.