College student who drowned in New Hampshire river had excessive blood alcohol level, police say

HANOVER, N.H. — A college student who drowned in a river in New Hampshire over the summer had an excessive blood alcohol level, investigators announced this week.

The body of Won Jang, a 20-year-old Dartmouth College student, was pulled from the Connecticut River in Hanover on July 7, nearly 24 hours after he was seen at a social gathering with two Greek organizations along the riverbank, according to the Hanover Police Department and Dartmouth Dean Scott C. Brown.

The New Hampshire State Medical Examiner’s Office recently concluded that Jang’s cause of death was an accidental drowning. A toxicology report also indicated that Jang’s blood alcohol was .167, which is more than double New Hampshire’s legal limit.

Jang was a biomedical engineering major from Middletown, Delaware, and a fraternity brother at Beta Alpha Omega, according to Brown.

“Won wholeheartedly embraced opportunities at Dartmouth to pursue his academic and personal passions. He served as a project manager at the DALI Lab, was a research assistant at Thayer, and participated in the TuckLAB entrepreneurship program,” Brown said in a statement at the time of Jang’s death. “He supported his peers and found fast friendships as an international student mentor for the Office of Pluralism and Leadership and as a fraternity brother at Beta Alpha Omega. He enthusiastically took part in the Dartmouth community, from starting his own band to playing club squash and joining the snowboarding team.”

After Jang’s death, the Beta Alpha Omega fraternity and Alpha Phi sorority were suspended as police launched a hazing investigation, the Dartmouth school newspaper reported.

An investigation into the events leading up to Jang ending up in the river remains ongoing.

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