Coroner: UC Irvine student died of alcohol poisoning following off-campus party in January

Coroner investigators determined that an 18-year-old UC Irvine student found unresponsive after an off-campus party in January died of accidental alcohol poisoning, officials said on Monday, March 11.

Noah Domingo had attended a party hosted by members of his fraternity, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, at a home in Irvine near the intersection of Turtle Rock and Campus drives on Friday, Jan. 11, according to Tom Vasich, a UCI spokesman. A man at the residence called 911 at about 9:30 a.m. the next day and told authorities that the first-year college student had stopped breathing and his skin was turning blue.

As friends performed CPR, a dispatcher asked if anyone knew why Domingo had fallen unconscious.

“He just drank,” said the caller. “He just drank too much.”

Officials at the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Coroner Division said in a news release he died of “accidental acute ethanol intoxication” at about 3:30 a.m. on Jan. 12. It said Domingo’s blood alcohol level was 0.331 at the time of his death. No other substances were found in his system.

The release said the Irvine Police Department is continuing to investigate the case.

“His death brings urgent focus on alcohol and substance abuse, from the cultural pressures that encourage unhealthy behavior to the policies designed to mitigate danger,” wrote Vasich in a Monday statement.

He said university administrators placed the Irvine chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon on suspension following the incident. Its charter was later suspended by the fraternity’s national organization on Feb. 21, effectively shutting it down at UCI indefinitely.

Meanwhile, people who knew Domingo remembered him as a sincere friend and a spirited athlete. He played football and basketball for four years at Crescenta Valley High School before graduating in 2018, according to a statement issued Jan. 14 by the school basketball team’s Booster Club president, Torie Carlson.

“While he wasn’t the tallest or fastest player, he had the biggest heart and the most school spirit and energy, whether in the game or cheering on his teammates from the bench,” wrote Carlson at the time.

Relatives said Domingo hoped to enter the field of sports medicine and dreamed of working as a doctor for the NBA.