Writer’s death was instant

Historian and journalist David Halberstam died instantly from a punctured heart suffered in Monday’s car crash near a busy Menlo Park commuter bridge, a coroner said Tuesday.

An autopsy revealed that the 73-year-old Pulitzer Prize-winning author fractured a rib that pierced his heart, according to San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault.

“He had a fractured pelvis and several fractured ribs, one of which went into his heart,” Foucrault said Tuesday. “In this type of rupture of the heart, death comes immediately.”

Police have yet to file charges in the late-morning crash that killed the New York City-based writer, who was a passenger in a car being driven by a first-year journalism student.

Halberstam was visiting the Bay Area to deliver a lecture at UC Berkeley and conduct an interview for an upcoming book.

Nicole Acker, a spokeswoman for the Menlo Park Police Department, said several new witnesses came forward Tuesday with information about the crash.

The car Halberstam was in was turning left at a busy intersection when it was broadsided by an oncoming vehicle. Cars making such a left turn at the corner may proceed only when they have a green arrow, she said.

“We don’t know whether [the arrow] was green or not,” Acker said. “We’re hoping to find out from our witness interviews.”

At the time of the crash, Halberstam was being driven by Kevin Jones, 26, a UC Berkeley journalism school student.

The pair had just crossed the busy Dumbarton Bridge, en route to an interview with Hall of Fame quarterback Y.A. Tittle for Halberstam’s next book, which he was planning to call “The Game.”

Jones was driving a 1996 maroon Toyota Camry at Bayfront Expressway and Willow Road when he was hit by a 1996 dark green Infiniti Q30 that police said was traveling at high speed. The impact forced the two cars into a third vehicle, a 2005 silver Nissan Sentra.

The drivers of all three cars were injured, none seriously. Halberstam, who was wearing his seat belt, suffered the brunt of the impact, police say.

In a career that spanned the major events of the late 20th century, Halberstam wrote more than 20 books on politics, sports and government abuse of power. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1964 for his Vietnam coverage for the New York Times.

Fellow students at UC Berkeley on Monday established a bulletin board that has received dozens of messages of support for Jones.

Foucrault said funeral arrangements for Halberstam were pending.

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john.glionna@latimes.com