Speed killed "Fast & Furious" star Paul Walker,
according to the investigation of the fiery car crash that ended the actor's
life last year.
"Investigators determined the cause of the fatal solo-vehicle
collision was unsafe speed for the roadway conditions," Los Angeles County
Sheriff's Commander Mike Parker said Tuesday.
The high-performance 2005 Porsche Carrera GT was going
"between 80 and 93 mph at the time the car impacted a power pole and
several trees," the final report said. The posted speed limit on the Santa
Clarita, California, office park road was 45 mph.
The sheriff's conclusion is no surprise, since the coroner’s
report previously estimated the car was speeding a 100 mph. But the investigative
report does clear up some questions that have lingered about how Walker died.
Walker, 40, and friend Roger Rodas,38, had no drugs or alcohol in their
blood. Both men were wearing seat belts. The airbags deployed as they should
have when the car clipped a light pole and several trees, investigators said.
Nothing mechanical went wrong to cause their Porsche to leave the
wide road. Investigators found "no pre-existing conditions that would have
caused this collision," the report said. Experts from Porsche and Michelin
were consulted.
The car did have "an aftermarket exhaust system" that
helped it go faster, the report said. The tires on the car, which was mostly
displayed in a showroom and rarely driven, were more than nine years old.
One early theory --
considering the nature of Walker's movies -- that he and Rodas could have been
racing another car was not supported, the report said.
"No eyewitness contacted the Los Angeles County Sheriff's
Department to say there was a second vehicle and there is no evidence to
indicate there was a second car involved in the collision," it said.
Video recorded by several cameras on nearby buildings "helped skilled
investigators to determine the cause of the collision and that no speed contest
was taking place."
The Los Angeles County coroner's office released a15-page report
in January that concluded the two men apparently did not live long after the
crash.
Walker and Rodas, racing team partners, left a
charity event at a car shop co-owned by the men to take a ride in an
office park in the community of Valencia in Santa Clarita, about 30 miles north
of Hollywood. The crash happened a few hundred yards away on a wide street.
The autopsy revealed "scant soot" in Walker's trachea,
suggesting his life ended before the smoke and fire engulfed the car.
The actor's body was badly burned "and in a pugilistic
stance. His right wrist was fractured and his left arm was fractured," the
report said. Rodas was also described as in "a pugilistic" -- or
defensive -- position.
Walker suffered fractures of his left jawbone, collarbone, pelvis,
ribs and spine, the report said.
Rodas "rapidly died of severe blunt head, neck and chest
trauma," the report said.
Walker's death came during a Thanksgiving break in filming of
"Fast and Furious 7," forcing a halt in the production. Universal
Studios eventually decided that the movie would be recorded using scenes
already filmed by Walker, but the release will be delayed from this summer
until April 10, 2015. Production resumed in Atlanta this month.
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