SCRIPPS RANCH –
Moments after former Chargers safety Terrence Kiel crashed into a cinder-block wall in a Scripps Ranch neighborhood Friday night, a crowd of guests from a nearby party swarmed the scene in a vain effort to save their friend's life.
The party guests, many in swimwear, searched the roadside with flashlights, thinking Kiel had been ejected.
When they discovered that he was pinned underneath, they tried to lift his 2004 Chevrolet Monte Carlo sedan. An off-duty police officer took control until firefighters arrived.
“They seemed a little distraught that they couldn't do more,” said Bill Alsup, who called 911 and then watched the scene on Stonebridge Parkway just outside his backyard.
Kiel, 27, died on the way to a hospital. He had been dismissed from the Chargers last year after a drug scandal.
It was unclear whether alcohol was a factor in the crash, although there were reports from police that friends tried to prevent Kiel from leaving the Fourth of July celebration in the Stonebridge neighborhood.
Chargers linebacker Stephen Cooper lives in a $1.1 million home a short distance from the crash site, according to property records, but police and Chargers officials could not say whether the party was at Cooper's home.
A man who came to Cooper's front door yesterday afternoon declined to talk about the accident, saying, “It's too fresh.”
Cooper was suspended from the team in April after testing positive for a stimulant that is banned in the National Football League. He will miss the first four games of the upcoming season.
A woman told police she saw Kiel, who was alone in the car, driving in the wrong direction before he lost control of the car, which crashed into Alsup's wall and rolled near Stockwood Cove just after 10 p.m. Friday.
When emergency personnel found Kiel, he was barely breathing, said San Diego police Sgt. Alan Hayward. It took a while for firefighters to extricate him, and he died at 11:28 p.m., police said.
An autopsy conducted yesterday by the Medical Examiner's Office showed the cause of death to be mechanical asphyxia. Toxicology tests will take about six weeks to complete.
“It's a sad and tragic situation,” said Chargers general manager A.J. Smith. “I feel for his family at this time.”
Smith said he was still trying to learn details of the incident yesterday afternoon.
No one answered the door at Kiel's Kearny Mesa townhome yesterday. He is survived by his parents, Regina and Grose Kiel of Lufkin, Texas.
After a promising NFL start in 2003, Kiel saw his career and public image fizzle after he pleaded guilty to drug charges in early 2007, got involved in big-ticket casino gambling and was charged with urinating outside a downtown San Diego club.
Kiel, a Texas native, was a second-round pick from Texas A&M University in the 2003 NFL draft.
Just weeks before the season began, Kiel was shot three times in an attempted carjacking as he prepared to leave a Houston mall. That incident happened on Independence Day as well.
The shooting didn't seem to hurt the rookie's season. He quickly healed and made his Chargers debut about a month later. Soon after that he won a starting job.
Then, in September 2006, Kiel was arrested after Drug Enforcement Administration agents intercepted two FedEx boxes containing codeine-based cough syrup. He pleaded guilty to felony and misdemeanor charges for shipping the drug to Texas.
Kiel was released by the team in March 2007 after his drug plea. The city eventually dropped the urination charge.
Staff writers Jeanette Steele, Tim Sullivan and Lola Sherman contributed to this report.
Kristina Davis: (619) 542-4591; kristina.davis@uniontrib.com
