Paul Walker death: Autopsy may reveal more clues today
The Los Angeles County coroner’s office said it might have more information Wednesday regarding the autopsies of “Fast and Furious” star Paul Walker and his friend Roger Rodas, who were killed in a fiery crash Saturday.
Autopsies in the case began Tuesday, but officials said they are not completed. More work is planned Wednesday.
Craig Harvey of the coroner’s office said Tuesday that officials have not made official identifications or determined who was driving the 2005 Porsche Carrera GT (Walker was believed to be the passenger).
Some preliminary results might be available once the autopsies are done, officials said, but the final coroner’s report will likely take several weeks to complete.
As Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department detectives search for an explanation for the crash, investigators so far have found “no evidence” of a fluid leak from the car at the scene, said sheriff’s Capt. Mike Parker.
A leak of vital fluids could have pointed to an inability of the driver to control the 605-horsepower 2005 Porsche Carrera GT. Investigators want to retrieve computerized data from the car that would show its performance in the moments before the crash.
Detectives have not determined what caused the crash, which occurred about 3:30 p.m. Saturday on Hercules Street in Santa Clarita, but a preliminary investigation indicates that speed was a factor, Parker said.
Just how fast the car was moving remains to be determined. The speed limit on the street is 45 mph.
Friends have told authorities that the high-performance Porsche was not street racing at the time of the crash, and sheriff’s officials say eyewitnesses did not see a second car.
A friend of the men, Jim Torp, told reporters at the crash site Monday that the Porsche had already been sold, so the men were not going out to be reckless.
“I’m a good friend of theirs, and I’m fighting for them because there’s been a lot of speculation about them drag racing, and that did not happen,” he told reporters.
He described what he remembered about how the tragedy unfolded, starting from the moment when Walker and Rodas slowly pulled out of the driveway as a charity event was winding down.
After they came back around for another pass and went out of sight, he said, he and another car enthusiast listened to the sounds of the Porsche’s exhaust to gauge its speed.
“You could hear the exhaust -- they got on it a little bit -- and I heard two booms,” Torp said.
Smoke was visible from Always Evolving Performance Motors, a shop owned by Rodas that is located around the corner from the crash site.
Actor Vin Diesel, who co-starred in the “Fast and Furious” series with Walker, visited the crash site Monday night, addressing a crowd of mourners using a loudspeaker from a Sheriff’s Department car.
“If my brother were here today. And if he saw all the love you were bringing here. If he could see for himself that [you have] shown my brother love ... it’s going to stay with me forever ... showing that angel up in heaven how much you appreciated him,” he said.
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