dt                       DI'S DRIVER WAS DRUNK                       09/02/97 ================================================================================                              DAYTON DAILY NEWS                   Copyright (c) 1997, Dayton Newspapers Inc.DATE: Tuesday, September 2, 1997            TAG: 9709020081EDITION: CITY          SECTION: NEWS        PAGE: 1A SOURCE: By Jocelyn Noveck Associated Press                             DI'S DRIVER WAS DRUNK                       SPEED AT IMPACT POSSIBLY 121 MPH    PARIS - New details of Princess Diana's fatal ride emerged Monday, and thepicture French sources painted was grim: a legally drunken driver, possiblypushing his Mercedes over 100 mph, trying to weave around slower traffic.   It introduced a major new element in an investigation that had seemedfocused on the role that pursuing photographers may have played in causing thecrash, which also killed Diana's millionaire boyfriend Dodi Fayed and thedriver.   In one damning - but unconfirmed - report Monday, the newspaper Le Mondesaid witnesses saw photographers trying to push police and rescuers away asthey snapped photos of Diana and Fayed after the crash.   Police extended the detention of seven photographers taken into custodyafter the crash. They were expected to be placed under formal investigationtoday - a step short of being formally charged. The precise charges they mightface were not known.   Early witness reports had said the car was traveling at excessively highspeed, and on Monday a police official, speaking on condition of anonymity,said the speedometer was found stuck at 196 kilometers per hour - 121 mph - analmost certain indicator of its speed at impact.   Prosecutors said blood tests on driver Henri Paul, 41, showed he had anillegal blood-alcohol level. They did not give the level, but a judicialsource said it was 1.75 grams of alcohol per liter of blood - more than threetimes France's legal limit.   France's National Association for the Prevention of Alcoholism said thatwas the equivalent of drinking nine shots of whiskey - a shot in a French barequaling about 1.2 ounces.LENGTH:   43 linesCATEG: INTERNATIONAL NEWSSUBJ: TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS      DRUNK DRIVINGNA: PRINCESS DIANA GEOG:  AT: BRITISH ROYAL FAMILY     ENHANCER: jesse================================================================================ 68 of 82, 2 Terms                                                              Transfer complete. Press [RETURN] to return to Menu: