OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Oklahoma City police said on Tuesday they found no evidence that the death of prominent businessman Aubrey McClendon in a vehicle crash a day after he was indicted by a federal grand jury was anything other than an accident.
Police spokesman Capt. Paco Balderrama told The Associated Press Tuesday that the department could not rule out the possibility that McClendon took his own life or had a medical emergency in the crash on March 2. The medical examiner's report is still pending.
"Our investigators found no information or evidence which would compel us to believe this was anything other than a vehicular accident," Balderrama said earlier in a statement.
Police previously said the former Chesapeake CEO was driving 78 mph when his sport utility vehicle hit a bridge support and burst into flames and that there was no evidence suggesting he tried to avoid the crash.
The vehicle's data recorder showed that McClendon was driving 88 mph and then tapped his brakes before impact, police had said previously.
McClendon had his gas pedal floored until 1 1/2 seconds before impact, when he reduced it from 99 to 25 percent depressed, they said.
Investigators found tire tracks but no skid marks.
His death came a day after his indictment on a bid-rigging charge. He had vowed to fight the charge.