911 call released in death of UC Irvine student: ‘He just drank too much’

Friends of 18-year-old Noah Domingo frantically tried to revive him before paramedics arrived and declared the UC Irvine freshman dead, according to newly released 911 calls.

“Someone is not breathing. They’re not OK,” the caller tells the 911 dispatcher. “Their whole body is like blue right now.”

Domingo, who grew up in La Crescenta, died after a party at a home in Irvine on Jan. 12, prompting the immediate suspension of his fraternity. The Orange County coroner’s office is conducting an autopsy and waiting for toxicology reports to officially determine his cause of death.

In the seven-minute 911 recording, the caller says Domingo “just drank too much.”

The 911 dispatcher instructs a group of men how to perform CPR on Domingo, who the men said was cold to the touch. He went to sleep around 11 p.m., and his friends didn’t find him and call the police until 9:30 the next morning, according to the callers.

“Come on Noah … please,” one of the men says on the tape.

Police say they found Domingo unresponsive at 9:30 a.m., but he had died around 3:30 a.m., according to coroner’s officials.

UC Irvine officials said they could not release details about Domingo’s death because of the investigation. But the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity was suspended and ordered to immediately cease all activity, according to UC Irvine student affairs Vice Chancellor Edgar J. Dormitorio.

In an email to the campus community Monday, Dormitorio wrote that officials would collaborate with leaders in the Greek community to help support those affected by Domingo’s death.

“We will also closely examine the larger context in which this tragedy occurred,” he wrote. We “will be working with the Greek community to help ensure that they are engaging in behaviors and practices that are in alignment with university policies and their own values.”

Domingo followed his older sister to UC Irvine in the fall and chose to major in biology and join Greek life, just as she had, said their father, Dale Domingo. He said he did not want to speculate about what led to his son’s death, but he was worried about a problematic drinking culture at colleges.

“As a family, we’re hurting, but we’re also concerned — could it have been prevented? Is there something we, as a family, can do to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again?” Dale Domingo said in an interview with The Times.

soumya.karlamangla@latimes.com

Twitter: @skarlamangla