TESTS SHOW DRIVER WAS ON COCAINE

A driver accused of slamming into a car while drunk, killing three
University of South Florida students, also tested positive for cocaine,
authorities said.

Mitchell Houston James Jr. had ``recently'' used the illegal substance
before the early morning collision Nov. 29, Hillsborough County sheriff's
spokesman Sgt. Rod Reder said Friday. However, the exact time was unknown.

The findings were based on toxicology tests conducted after the crash.

About 1:20 that morning, James' 1979 Cadillac went through a red light at
Bruce B. Downs Boulevard and Fletcher Avenue and struck the driver's side of
a Pontiac Firebird carrying four USF students.

The driver of the Pontiac, LeAnna Dawson, 19, and passengers Jaclyn Ayala,
18, and Majid Tahri died. A fourth passenger, David Sanders, 18, was
hospitalized but later released.

James, 40, of 12705 St. James Place Drive, Tampa, was driving at an
estimated 60 to 70 mph at the time of the crash, a homicide investigator's
report concluded. The Pontiac was traveling at 9 mph.

James' blood-alcohol level was 0.23, nearly three times the state-prescribed
level of intoxication, officials said.

``Alcohol and cocaine in your system while driving is like pointing a loaded
gun at someone,'' Reder said.

Dawson had neither drugs nor alcohol in her system when she died, the
Hillsborough County Medical Examiner's Office said.

James, who had a valid driver's license at the time of the crash, had his
license revoked three times in the 1990s - twice for habitual violation of
traffic laws and once for DUI, according to state records.

He spent several days at St. Joseph's Hospital recovering from the crash
before being jailed.

James was charged with three counts of driving under the influence
manslaughter and one count of DUI with serious bodily injury, the sheriff's
office said.

He was being held Friday at the Orient Road jail on $250,000 bail, jail
records show.