There’s been a lot of talk lately about the distractions of using a cell phone or texting while driving. Here are two incidents in recent days in which the drivers died:
The Los Angeles Times is reporting that a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon who died Monday when his Jeep Wrangler veered off Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu appears to have posted Twitter updates about his dog minutes before the crash.
And Dr. Frank Ryan, 50, also may have been texting at the time of the accident, said his ex-girlfriend, Los Angeles publicist Charmaine Blake.
According to the Times:
Ryan posted a picture of his border collie at the beach on Twitter at 4:10 p.m. Monday and 20 minutes later, while driving south on Pacific Coast Highway north of Deer Creak Road, swerved and tumbled down a rocky embankment toward the ocean, his car landing on its roof.
CHP Officer Steve Reid said Ryan was declared dead at the scene. His dog, Jill, survived the accident.
Reid said investigators have not confirmed the cause of the crash but were looking into whether text messaging or Twittering may have played a role.
“We’re looking into that along with many other factors,” Reid said.
Ryan’s celebrity clientele included reality TV star Heidi Montag, musician Vince Neil, actor Lorenzo Lamas, reality stars Lisa Gastineau and Adrianne Curry and several models and beauty queens.
Meanwhile, in the East Bay, an Antioch woman who was talking on her cell phone to get directions drove off a boat ramp and drowned in the Sacramento River.
The Associated Press reported that the CHP is awaiting video footage they hope will shed light on just how 47-year-old Kathleen Gomez Collier ended up in
the river.
Officer Michael Bradley said Gomez Collier stopped at Vieira’s Resort off Highway 160 in Isleton to ask for directions just before midnight Saturday but ended up driving off the resort’s boat ramp.
Investigators said Gomez Collier told her daughter during her phone call that her car was filling up with water and to contact her insurance company just before the call was cut off. Divers recovered her body from the vehicle Sunday morning about 175 feet downstream from where the Ford Expedition hit the water.
