Foremost Group CEO Angela Chao intoxicated when Tesla went into Texas pond

Foremost Group CEO Angela Chao was intoxicated when she accidentally drove her Tesla into a pond at a ranch she owned with her husband, venture capitalist Jim Breyer, after a gathering there last month with close friends, a police report released Wednesday reveals.

Chao, who died in the Tesla after friends and rescue workers were unable to get her out of the vehicle late Feb. 10 into the next morning, had a blood-alcohol concentration of .233, a toxicology report showed.

That is nearly three times the legal limit to drive on public roads in Texas.

Chao, 50, was the sister-in-law of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who is married to her sister, Elaine Chao, a former cabinet secretary who had led the U.S. Labor and Transportation departments in separate GOP administrations.

The new report details the frantic but unsuccessful attempts to get Chao out of the 2020 Tesla X she was stuck in, and an emotional eight-minute phone call the shipping company executive made to a friend as water entered her vehicle.

“In a calm voice, Chao informs [Amber Landeau-Kienan] she is not able to get out of the vehicle,” the Blanco County Sheriff’s Department report recounted.

“Chao told Keinan the water was rising and she was going to die, and said, ‘I love you’ to Keinan prior to the vehicle going under water.”

Landeau-Kienan got into a kayak and went into the pond to try to get to Chao, and another friend swam around the car, which was submerged, the report said.

Chao had driven into the pond late Feb. 10 on the ranch in Johnson City after a dinner in the property’s guest house with seven “close friends,” some of whom had attended Harvard Business School with her, according to the report.

She was headed back to the main house on the 4,500-acre ranch when her Tesla went into the water after she put the car into reverse and it went over the top of a limestone block wall, according to the police report.

Chao called Landeau-Kienan at about 11:42 p.m., the report said.

“Chao informed Kienan in a calm voice she was in the ‘lake’ (pond),” the report said.

Days after the accident, on Feb. 15, Texas Ranges and FBI agents met with the Blanco County Sheriff’s Office, which was the lead investigative agency Chao’s death.

After reviewing photos from the scene and videos, as well as reports, the Texas Rangers and FBI “felt this incident was nothing more than an unfortunate accident.”

Angela Chao became CEO of Foremost Group in 2018. The company was founded by her father James Chao in 1964.

A spokesperson for James Chao and his family on Wednesday said, “Angela’s passing was a terrible tragedy, and words cannot describe the family’s profound grief.”

“The family is grateful for the first responders and friends who tried so hard to save her,” the spokesperson said.

Angela Chao had held board positions on the American Bureau of Shipping Council, Harvard Business School’s Board of Dean’s Advisors and the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Her first husband, the investment banker Bruce Wasserstein, died months after they married in 2009.

Breyer is part owner of the National Basketball Association’s Boston Celtics, He previously served on the boards of Facebook, Walmart, Marvel Entertainment, News Corp. and Dell.

McConnell announced in late February that he would step down as the Republican Senate leader at the end of the year.

McConnell cited Angela Chao’s death in his statement on the Senate floor revealing his plan to give up the leadership position.

“This has been a particularly difficult time for my family,” McConnell said.

“We tragically lost Elaine’s younger sister Angela, just a few weeks ago,” he said. “When you lose a loved one, particularly at a young age, there’s a certain introspection that accompanies the grieving process.”

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