Issue 1 REP Paul Walker - P 2013
Tony Larkin/Rex/REX USAThe Porsche Carrera GT in which Paul Walker was a passenger was traveling faster than 100 mph when the car’s driver lost control and crashed, according to the final report from the L.A. County Coroner’s Office issued Friday.
According to an L.A. Sheriff’s Department investigation of the crash, the red sports car, driven by Roger Rodas, was headed east on Hercules Street “at an unsafe speed, approximately 100+ mph,” when Rodas lost control “for unknown reasons” and the car partially spun, hitting a curb, a tree and a light post. That impact spun the car around another 180 degrees, causing the passenger side of the car to hit another tree and burst into flames.
STORY: Porsche Carrera GT a ‘Batshit Crazy Car’
The fiery crash scattered debris across all four lanes of the Santa Clarita parkway as well as a nearby parking lot.
There was no sign of alcohol or drugs in the system of the car’s driver, Rodas, 38, who died of “multiple traumatic injuries,” according to the coroner’s toxicology reports.
The Fast & Furious actor, 40, died of traumatic and thermal injuries; there was no sign of alcohol or drugs in his system, the report notes. The coroner checked for cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine and other substances in Walker’s body and the results were “negative” or “not detected” across the board.
Rodas and Walker had taken the vehicle for a drive on Nov. 30 shortly after an event held by the actor’s charitable organization, Reach Out Worldwide. L.A. County firefighters arrived at the scene of the crash and determined the driver and passenger had both died, the report states.
The accident occurred at approximately 3:35 p.m. and 911 was called six minutes later, according to the report, which doesn’t specify where the emergency phone call came from.
“For unknown reasons, the driver lost control of his vehicle, and the vehicle partially spun around, and began traveling in a southeast direction,” the report says. “The vehicle then struck a curb, and the driver’s side of the vehicle struck a tree and then a light post. The force of those collisions caused the vehicle to spin 180 degrees and continue in an easterly direction. The passenger side of the vehicle then struck another tree and burst into flames.”
The report says that when authorities arrived they found the car on its four wheels with the passenger side resting against a broken tree, “and it appeared that the vehicle was almost split in half.”
The report also stipulates about the passenger: “The decedent cannot be positively identified visually. The decedent is probably Paul William Walker IV.”
A public memorial was held at the crash site on Dec. 8. After the crash, Universal held production and postponed the Summer 2014 release of the seventh entry in the Fast franchise to April 15, 2015. Walker’s co-star in the franchise, Vin Diesel, posted a Facebook note on Thursday reflecting on the loss: “There was always moments of child-like laughter… We had accomplished so much by 2013… P.s. The complexities of Brotherhood, and the painful void… of it’s absence.”
Email: Paul.Bond@thr.com
