4 Who Died on Church Bus Had Been Drinking

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Four of 24 teen-agers killed in a church bus crash had alcohol in their blood, but the state medical examiner says that probably played no role in their inability to escape from the burning wreckage.

“I don’t think it’s a contributing factor at all,” Dr. George Nichols told the Lexington Herald-Leader. None of the three adult victims on the bus, including the driver, had been drinking, he said.

Neither the names of the teen-agers nor the blood-alcohol levels were available. Full autopsy results are to be released Friday.

All 27 victims died of smoke inhalation as they tried to climb out of the burning bus after it was struck by a pickup on May 14 near Carrollton, Nichols said earlier.

In another development, the law firm that negotiated most of the out-of-court settlements resulting from the crash apparently will receive a $4.5-million fee, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported on Wednesday.

The firm negotiated payments totaling $35.9 million for 60 families, the newspaper said. Ford Motor Co., one of the principal manufacturers of the bus, has reached settlements with 65 of the 67 families involved in the crash.