T

he Jakarta Police said on Wednesday that an investigation by the police’s forensics lab had revealed that Olivia Dewi, a teenager killed in a traffic accident in Central Jakarta last month, had been drunk at the time of the crash.

“The lab’s investigation result shows that there was 623 milligrams of ethanol in [Olivia’s] blood, liver and gall bladder, far higher than the normal level of 300 milligrams,” the city police’s traffic directorate chief, Sr. Comr. Dwi Sigit Nurmantyas, told reporters.

“An ethanol level this high could have affected her concentration while driving the car,” he added.

Olivia, 17, died inside her burning Nissan Juke in a horrific traffic accident on Jl. Sudirman in Central Jakarta in the small hours of March 10.

She was reportedly driving the car at high speed when it swerved off the road and crashed into a billboard-supporting pole in front of Wisma Nugra Santana. The vehicle burst into flames soon afterward.

The news will serve as a blow to Olivia’ family, who planned to take legal action against the carmaker for alleged negligence.

Olivia was killed in the crash, while her friend Joy Sebastian, who was sitting in the car’s front passenger seat, was severely injured and was treated at Gading Pluit Hospital in North Jakarta.

The case was then closed on April 11. “We can’t go any further with the case because the suspect [in the case] was also the victim and died in the crash,” Dwi said.

Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto said that the lab’s investigation had also revealed that the car burst into flames as a result of the sparks created by the friction between the car and the billboard-supporting pole at the time of impact.

“The two metal surfaces colliding together generated sparks, which ignited the fire,” he said.

Olivia’s parents, along with their lawyer OC Kaligis, had reported the carmaker to the Jakarta Police on April 12. Her father Soerijo Gondo Setiawan said that he believed there were some peculiarities in the circumstances that led to the death of his daughter.

“At the time of the accident, the doors were all locked and the airbag did not function properly.”

If the case goes to court, it would be the second time NMI has faced a customer in a trial this year. The company recently faced Nissan March owner Ludmilla Arif, who filed a lawsuit against the company for alleged false advertising at the South Jakarta District Court.

According to Ludmilla, Nissan advertised that its March hatchback’s fuel consumption was around 21 kilometers per liter.

However, she said that she had determined through her own research that the car’s fuel consumption was only around 8 kilometers per liter.

The South Jakarta District Court on Tuesday ruled in Ludmilla’s favor, ordering the carmaker to pay her Rp 160 million (US$17,440).