Police: Teens in fatal Beach crash bought alcohol

VIRGINIA BEACH

Several weeks after a midnight crash left one teen dead and another arrested on drunken driving charges, investigators are still tracking down who's to blame for providing them with alcohol.

A store surveillance tape may provide the answer. Police have obtained a video that shows the teens buying alcohol, said Officer Walter Wallace, who's investigating the case for the Police Department. He said he couldn't provide further details, but the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control is investigating.

More information may surface when the driver, a 16-year-old junior who attended Kempsville High School, appears in Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court early next month. He faces charges of drunken driving and involuntary manslaughter in the crash that killed Joseph "Joey" Fonseca, 16, just after midnight on March 7.

The teens, who were teammates on Kempsville's varsity baseball team, were driving near the intersection of Avalon and Normandy avenues in Kempsville when they swerved off the road and struck a tree. Fonseca died at the scene.

The crash involved an alcoholic energy drink, said Lt. Doug Backman, who oversees the Police Department's Fatal Crash Team.

Those types of drinks are showing up more and more in underage drinking cases, said Robert Simmons Jr., a state ABC agent. They look much the same as the nonalcoholic versions, causing some store clerks to sell them to minors by accident, he said.

The resemblance can also fool parents, he said, but one easy way to tell the difference is that alcoholic energy drinks don't list nutrition facts, while nonalcoholic energy drinks do.

The drinks' combination of stimulants, like caffeine, and alcohol can make a dangerous mix, Simmons said.

"You're wide-awake drunk," he said. "It's like putting your foot on the brake and the gas at the same time."

The drinks - with names such as Joose, Four Loko and Max - are available locally at convenience stores, where they can be found in the refrigerated section with other alcoholic beverages. Their alcoholic content varies from 9.9 percent by volume to 12 percent. By comparison, a typical can of beer is 5 percent alcohol.

Simmons warned parents about the trend during a town hall meeting on underage drinking at Frank W. Cox High School on Thursday. The event, part of Alcohol Awareness Month, drew about 100 parents, teens and other residents.

"I think it is a big problem," said Backman, who participated in the forum.

In 2007, the most recent year for which statistics are available, drinkers under 21 caused 44 traffic fatalities and 1,900 injuries in Virginia, according to a study released last fall by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation.

And in Virginia Beach in 2008, police arrested 20 juveniles for drunken driving, 433 for liquor law violations and 19 for being drunk in public. Statistics for 2009 were not available last week.

In cases where underage drinking results in a death, injury or crime, police make an aggressive effort to track down the source, Backman said.

"We make a real active effort to find out where the alcohol came from," he said. "If we find out... then we can charge."

If a store sells alcohol to a minor, it may lose its liquor license. If a resident provides it, he or she can be charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a Class 1 misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine.

Between 2006 and 2008, between 7.4 percent and 8.3 percent of Virginia teens who drank said they bought the alcohol themselves, according to a report from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. In other cases, friends or family members may provide the drinks because they disagree with the drinking age, are apathetic or don't know how to say no, said Clyde Santana, a state ABC agent.

In the March 7 case, "I think this was all under the radar," Wallace said. "Nobody knew what they were doing."

Fonseca's family buried him at Willow Wood Cemetery on March 11. They did not return a phone call requesting an interview.

The teen charged in the case is on house arrest. He's scheduled to appear in court on May 3. The Pilot does not typically name juvenile defendants in criminal cases.

"It's everyone's responsibility when we talk about youth and alcohol," Simmons said. "We have to be responsible. We have to be educated. We have to know what our kids are drinking."

Kathy Adams, (757) 222-5155, kathy.adams@pilotonline.com