Restaurant boss died 11 days after ploughing into mum and son in drink-drive crash

A restaurant boss died 11 days after he was seriously injured in a drink-drive crash, an inquest heard. Chris Lee was two and half times the drink drive limit when strayed onto the wrong side of the road as he tried to round a bend in his Mercedes near his home in Huddersfield.

He crashed into an oncoming Honda Accord. The female driver and her son, a passenger in the car, were injured, although not seriously, YorkshireLive reports.

Chris managed to get out of the damaged Mercedes but collapsed at the scene and was taken to hospital for treatment. He underwent surgery but his condition deteriorated and he died with his family by his bedside on June 4, 2023.

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Tests showed that he had been drinking before the collision and would have been more than two and a half times over the drinking and driving limit. The inquest heard that Chris had previously given up drinking alcohol but, during the Covid lockdown, had started drinking again.

He had been treated for a number of health conditions including anxiety. A post mortem examination concluded that Chris had suffered a traumatic abdominal injury and also had underlying health conditions which had led to multi-organ failure.

An accident investigation could not determine the speed of the Mercedes or whether Chris had been wearing a seat belt. The main cause of the collision was the Mercedes crossing onto the opposite carriageway, with the effects of alcohol possibly playing a factor, according to police.

Assistant coroner Angela Brocklehurst concluded that Chris' death was alcohol-related and expressed condolences to his family.

She said it was a tragedy to lose someone as 'gifted' as Chris in such a way and said