The off-duty Bayonne emergency medical technician who was killed in a car accident last December was driving drunk at the time of his death, according to Bayonne police.

Michael Burke, 23, who was employed with McCabe Ambulance since 2011 as an EMT, was killed on Dec. 12, 2013 when a Jeep Wagon GRC that he was driving struck an abutment to a nearby railroad bridge near Avenue A and North Street.

Burke was pronounced dead at the scene that day at 12:51 a.m., Bayonne police Capt. Robert Geisler told The Jersey Journal this morning.

A passenger in Burke's car, Mark J. Bayus, 23, was critically injured in the accident. He was later upgraded to stable condition and was discharged from the Jersey City Medical Center on Jan. 23, JCMC-Barnabas Health spokesman Mark Rabson said today.

At the time of the accident, Burke was "legally above the limit," Geisler said, without being able to provide Burke's precise blood alcohol content. In New Jersey, a person with a BAC of 0.08 percent or greater while driving is considered to be driving under the influence.

Geisler referred to both an autopsy and a toxicology report as he spoke to The Jersey Journal over the phone. He said the medical examiner tested five different parts of Burke's body, which generated five different numbers.

All five numbers were above the legal limit, Geisler said, without specifying what those numbers were or how they should be interpreted to come up with an overall blood alcohol content for Burke at the time of his death.

Burke's autopsy report stated that his cause of death was "multiple blunt impact injuries throughout the body" and that his manner of death was an accident, Geisler said.

Geisler said the Bayonne Police Department's investigation into the fatal accident has been closed.

OPRA requests filed for Burke's driving record and for any and all accident reports from the NJ Motor Vehicle Commission were promptly denied, as those documents contain "personal information."

Meanwhile, the Bayonne Police Department has not yet responded to an OPRA request submitted today for autopsy, toxicology and police investigation reports related to the fatal accident.

The Northern Regional Medical Examiner's Office redirected questions about Burke's autopsy and toxicology reports to the Office of the Attorney General.

Neither the Office of the Attorney General nor the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office was able to immediately provide Burke's BAC at the time of his death.

Burke's father, William Burke, told The Jersey Journal on the phone today that he knew his son was over the legal limit when the accident happened.

"Whatever the circumstances may be, it doesn't cloud the fact that a young man lost his life...I just think it's a terrible tragedy," Mickey McCabe, the owner of McCabe Ambulance, said on the phone. "We lost a good man."

Bayus, the passenger injured in the accident, could not be reached for comment.

Jonathan Lin may be reached at jlin@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @jlin_jj. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.