Skater’s Death Was an Accident, Police Concur

The Police Department announced Thursday that it is closing its investigation into the death of an inline skater earlier this year, concurring with the coroner that the man did not appear to have died as the result of a paint-ball attack.

Gary Michael Holdren, 54, of Newport Beach died after spending two weeks in a coma following a skating accident March 24 in the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve. Because of evidence found at the scene and on his body, police initially speculated that he had been hit by paint balls.

On the basis of an autopsy, however, the coroner’s office attributed the death to “blunt head trauma” and classified it as an accident. Police officials agreed and said their inquiry had uncovered no evidence that paint balls had caused Holdren to fall.