CORONER: SKYDIVER WAS IMPAIRED BY DRUGS

OTTAWA - Twice this year, drugs have been found in the bloodstream of
experienced skydivers who died at Skydive Chicago.

LaSalle County Coroner Jody Bernard released a toxicology report Wednesday
that said marijuana was found in Skydive Chicago instructor Ronald Passmore
Jr.'s system. Passmore severed his aorta by slamming his chest on the
surface of a pond while trying to skim across the water in a trick
parachute landing July 14.

The toxicology report was conducted at St. Louis University Hospital, where
laboratory director Christopher Long said Passmore's blood contained about
double the level of drugs considered an impairment.

"This is serious impairment due to marijuana - cannabis - that would affect
everything you could possibly use to skydive, particularly reaction time
and depth perception," Long said. Passmore was the second instructor to die
at Skydive Chicago and the sixth jumper overall in the past year. Last
October, Bruce Greig of Jacksonville died and was found to have the drug
Ecstasy in his system. Trace amounts of cocaine and marijuana in Greig's
system were not considered impairments at the time of the accident.

Passmore was a veteran of more than 1,300 jumps.