A State College police investigation revealed that several friends of Anthony Torsell tried in vain to stop him from driving drunk Oct. 28, Centre County Assistant District Attorney Steve Sloane said yesterday.

Also yesterday, a Centre County district judge said a search warrant was issued to those believed to have provided the alcohol that Torsell, 20, allegedly consumed the night police said he drove drunk and struck two pedestrians, killing one.

Sloane said State College Police Det. John Aston has interviewed more than 20 people who were at Torsell's apartment the night of the accident. Sloane said the investigation revealed that before the accident, Torsell's friends tried to prevent him from driving.

"Apparently there was a lot of underage drinking that Torsell was involved in," Sloane said. "The night started at Torsell's, then went to some other gathering."

Sloane said that after leaving his apartment and attending another party, Torsell ended up at a State College McDonalds, where his roommates found him and tried to get him a cab.

"His friends said 'Stop. We'll call you a taxi,' and he declined," Sloane said. "That is when he came through State College, and that is when it happened."

Torsell's attorney, Joseph Amendola, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Aston said yesterday that he has tracked Torsell's actions from 4 p.m. Oct. 27 until the accident occurred, at about 2:30 a.m. Oct. 28.

He could not be reached for further comment by press time.

According to a criminal complaint, Torsell, of Bellefonte, was under the influence of alcohol while driving south on South Atherton Street at about 2:30 a.m. in a gold Buick Skylark when he hit Aaron Stidd, 20, and Richard Smith, 21, who were crossing the street westbound.

Smith died at Mount Nittany Medical Center Oct. 28. Stidd remains in critical condition at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville.

Centre County District Judge Carmine Prestia confirmed yesterday that he signed warrants for State College police to search places that Torsell had been Oct. 27 through Oct. 28.

Torsell was carrying false identification that said he was 21 years old when police arrived at the scene, according to court documents. He had a blood alcohol level of .242 percent an hour after the accident occurred, according to court documents.

Sloane said any furnishing charges that would result from the search warrants would not be related to Torsell's vehicular homicide and aggravated assault by homicide charges.

"The only thing I was interested was what kind of condition Torsell was in that evening," he said.

According to criminal complaints, Torsell told police he had been drinking but had only one drink three hours prior to driving, according to the complaint.

After failing a field sobriety test, he admitted to drinking two Saranac beers, two shots of Jagermeister and three 12-oz. cans of Coors Light beer at his apartment, 313A W. Prospect Ave., according to the complaint.

Staff Writer Marissa Carl contributed to this report.