Police Gain Additional Details on Toran’s Accident

A previously unheard-from eyewitness told police Tuesday that Stacey Toran’s car was traveling at 60-80 m.p.h.--almost double the previous estimate--when it hit a curb and flipped in Marina del Rey Aug. 5.

Toran, a starting Raider safety, was killed in the accident that occurred less than a block from his apartment.

Police, however, have decided not to assign an accident reconstruction team to the case, which had earlier been considered, according to Detective Robert Smith of the West Traffic division.

Smith said that because no criminal charges are expected to be filed and because the accident involved a single car, police supervisors could not justify the staffing required of a full accident reconstruction.

Because of that, Smith said, police can’t officially say how fast Toran’s car was traveling.

One eyewitness, Hector Padilla, had earlier estimated that Toran’s car was traveling at 40-45 m.p.h., which had been the police estimate.

However, Smith said that he had interviewed a new eyewitness Tuesday morning who provided information that was consistent with Smith’s own re-investigation of the accident scene Monday night. Smith, who declined to name the witness, identified him as one of three men who had been in Glen-Alla Park the night of the accident.

Toran’s 1984 BMW flipped at the fringe of the park, which is within sight of Toran’s apartment. A coroner’s report found Toran’s blood-alcohol level to be .32, more than three times the legal limit.

Smith also has ruled out the likelihood that a motorcyclist, who had been seen driving near Toran’s car, had any part in the accident.

“There is some slight doubt in my mind,” Smith said. “But right now he has not come forward and we don’t think he was a factor.”

The posted speed limit on the street is 35. Smith said the new witness estimated that Toran’s car was traveling at 60-80 m.p.h. when it hit the curb at the start of a gentle curve on Glencoe Avenue at Glen-Alla Park.

Smith also offered more detail of the accident itself, which he called “severe.” He said that an uprooted tree, which appeared to have stopped Toran’s car, had actually been knocked down as Toran’s BMW cartwheeled through the air and beyond it.

“His car hit that tree at about five, six feet off the ground,” Smith said. “If you look at the tree, the lower portion is not damaged but the upper branches are ripped out.”

The car continued rolling side-over-side, traveling more than 400 feet from the point where it jumped the curb. Toran was ejected from the passenger’s side of the car when the windshield collapsed, Smith said. Toran was not wearing a seat belt. Smith said that Toran’s body was thrown across the street, under a lamp post.

The car eventually came to rest on the sidewalk, facing opposite the direction it had been traveling.

Asked why the witness had not come forward earlier, Smith said: “This guy is really shook up. He had a big car come tumbling toward him and he saw a horrible accident. He wasn’t too talkative the night of the accident.”

Still to be interviewed by police are the two friends with whom Toran spent his last hours. Smith said he spoke with the men from Indianapolis, where they were attending Toran’s funeral last Friday. Smith said they promised to call this week but had not contacted him as of Tuesday.

“I’m waiting on them,” he said. “They haven’t come forward. But I think they’ll come forward. There are no criminal proceedings to come out of this. All they can do is shed light on this. Everyone I’ve talked to so far has been cooperative.”

Smith said that he expects soon to interview staff of the restaurant T.G.I. Friday’s, a popular Marina del Rey gathering place where Toran, 27, and his two friends allegedly spent some time eating and drinking the night of the accident.