SAN FRANCISCO - One of the three victims of the San Francisco Zoo tiger attack was intoxicated and admitted to yelling and waving at the animal while standing atop the railing of the big cat enclosure, police said in court documents filed Thursday.
Paul Dhaliwal, 19, told Carlos Sousa Sr., the father of Carlos Sousa Jr., 17, who was killed, that the three yelled and waved at the tiger but insisted they never threw anything into its pen to provoke the cat, according to a search warrant affidavit obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle.
The affidavit, which requested a search warrant for the surviving victims' cell phones and car, also cites multiple reports of a group of young men taunting animals at the zoo, the Chronicle reported.
Toxicology results for Dhaliwal showed that his blood alcohol level was 0.16 -- twice the legal limit for driving. His 24-year-old brother Kulbir Dhaliwal and Sousa also had alcohol in their blood but within the legal limit, according to Inspector Valerie Matthews, who prepared the affidavit.
All three also had marijuana in their systems, Matthews said. Kulbir Dhaliwal told police that the three had smoked pot and each had "a couple shots of vodka" before leaving San Jose for the zoo on Dec. 25, the affidavit said.
Police said they had recovered messages and images, but apparently nothing incriminating in connection with the tiger attack.
According to Sousa's account to police, Dhaliwal told him that he, his brother and the younger Sousa had been "waving their hands and yelling at the tiger" just before the animal leapt up a 12 1/2-foot wall from its dry moat and attacked them.
Paul Dhaliwal -- referred to in the affidavit by his formal name, Amritpal -- "said the three of them were standing on the railing looking at the tiger," Sousa told police.
