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© 2013 AFP'Fast and Furious' actor Walker killed in car crash
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© 2013 AFP
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nath
Fast and Furious star killed in a car crash. The irony.
Neneswsw
I'm sure that if he was driving the car this wouldn't have happened, such a tragedy. Rest in peace Paul.
DaveAllTogether
Paul Walker and the F&F series did a lot to shape the tuner community in the States. RIP Paul. Lots of people are mentioning the irony of his manner of death, but at least this wasn't another OD.
nath
I wouldn't say I enjoyed the irony of his death - that's a little dark. Very sad no matter how you look at it. But it was most definitely ironical.
Shar999
And he was attending a charity event...So sad!
From Deadline.com:
Fast & Furious star Paul Walker was riding as passenger during a charity event for Reach Out Worldwide at the time of his death, according to an update to his Paul Walker‘s official Twitter and Facebook page: “It is with a truly heavy heart that we must confirm that Paul Walker passed away today in a tragic car accident while attending a charity event for his organization Reach Out Worldwide. He was a passenger in a friend’s car, in which both lost their lives. We appreciate your patience as we too are stunned and saddened beyond belief by this news. Thank you for keeping his family and friends in your prayers during this very difficult time. We will do our best to keep you apprised on where to send condolences. – #TeamPW”
Graham DeShazo
W/ appologies to everyone that loves Paul Walker, I have remarkably little sympathy. Somebody was driving at very high speed (there's NOTHING left of the car) within city limits. This type of dangerous driving (the kind celebrated by the Fast and Furious franchise) is a real danger to innocent bystanders. The only silver lining in this accident is that at this point it seems that they did not kill anyone not in the car (like a family out for a dinner together).
The Chronic
@ Graham: Although I am a fan of Paul Walker and the F&F franchise, I must agree with you. If they were driving on a closed track, that would be different, but speeding on city streets, they should have known better especially the guy who was driving, a supposed Pro Race Car Driver. RIP all the same Paul.
Vernie Jefferies
When I saw the first report earlier today on Facebook, I thought it was one of those fake death reports. But this turned out to be very shocking news indeed.
hikkifan17
I was really hoping this was just a hoax but it's not. I was really looking forward him stare in Fast and Furious 7 but now that reality is gone.
R.I.P Paul Walker. T_T
StormR
Did a lot for the import and tuner industry unfortunately the down side was it encouraged every second fool and lunatic with a car to try and drive like the movies portrayed.
Who would have thought he would have died in car high speed car smash ?
I agree lucky it was only the tow in the car and not some innocent family killed.
cadmium31680
I like the FF series, and this is sad news. James Dean, now Paul Walker, killed in sports car accidents.
Now I'm waiting for the conspiracy theorists to say that the government did him in somehow.
The Chronic
Unfortunately we will never know what was happening inside of the car. For all we know Paul could have been telling the driver to slow it down...at least I hope he was. Again RIP!
Mirai Hayashi
Really sad. I was shocked to learn Paul Walker died at such a young age. I wasn't a huge fan of his movies, but as a fellow auto enthusiast its still sad to see him go.
nath
Reminds me of a time I hopped in my friends freshly rebuild '60s hot rod while he was showing it to me after a few drinks. He jumped in, and started driving. I hate drunk driving and I was telling him to stop, and he wouldn't So I told him I was about to puke - that stopped him right away! I got out and walked home. I never respected the guy after that.
bookowls
Wow...first of all, Paul Walker was not driving the car, he was the passenger, and so any blame cannot lie with him. Secondly, we don't know for sure what happened yet, so for you to try and justify these sad deaths by laying blame with both occupants of the vehicle, is extremely insensitive.
The vehicle exploded into flames - that's why there wasn't much left of it. You imply that speed is the reason why and yet there is no report of any speeding being witnessed. I once lost control of a DOHC Fiat 5 door I had, at just 10mph. The power steering wheel literally 'snapped' back to it's regular position, as I was trying to turn left. Almost took my thumbs off. Sometimes things happen in an instant and you have little to no time to react.
RIP to both Paul Walker and the driver.
The Chronic
@Bookowls said: "You imply that speed is the reason why and yet there is no report of any speeding being witnessed."
As quoted from the LA Sheriff's department: "Speed was a factor in the solo vehicle collision," the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department said in a updated statement late Saturday.
The driver was definitely speeding. What Paul Walker was doing while the speeding was going on ..well we'll never know. Hopefully as I mentioned above, he was telling the driver to slow it down.
sensei258
The driver, Roger Rodas, was a race veteran, and the accident happened in a nearly deserted industrial park with lots of parking lots and wide open spaces, not on the freeway. Makes me wonder what really hapened.
Mirai Hayashi
@sensei258
Rodas was driving a Porsche Carerra GT which is notorious for very squirrelly and unpredictable handling. Even pro drivers have a hard time controlling this thing because its got so much power, and so light weight, not to mention that it doesn't have a lot of the safety features that the newer hypercars have. Not to say that the accident was due to poor driving, but anyone could lose control in a Carerra GT regardless of their skill level or how they were driving.
presto345
A different news source reported the Porsche crashed into a tree and an electric light pole at high speed and erupted in flames. Very sad.
DudeDeuce
My wife was crying when she told me the news. Paul was her favorite actor and has watched/own all of his films on DVD. I am really sad about this too and haven't been this sad for a celebrity's passing in a long time. He made many great films and was always a cool dude in all of his roles. People only talk about him in the Fast & Furious films but he had some other great films. Some of my favorite films, besides F&F, of his are-
Running Scared- One of the baddest films of all times. Non-stop with more twists than a hula hoop. Joy Ride- Like the classic movie Duel but on steroids. Eight Below- Great family film, a tear jerker Timeline- a fun time machine movie The Skulls- good role as a bad guy Varsity Blues- a football classic film Into The Blue- Good couples movie, girls focus on him, boys focus on Jessica AlbaRIP Paul Walker, heaven has gained another angel
What are some of your favorite Paul Walker films?
HonestDictator
Considering the news I'm wondering if they were wearing their seatbelts. The majority of crashes ending in fatalities is caused by people not wearing their seatbelts. I've lost 4 friends and relatives because of the exact same thing. The car did catch fire but no details as to whether or not they were thrown from the vehicle.
smithinjapan
They should make this a movie and show how racing on streets doesn't pay off very well. Since this F&F series started, there have been a lot of accidents from people street racing, and they usually involve other cars not in the race. I think it's a shame that Walker has passed, he was a decent actor and a good looking dude to boot, but he died due to the reality of what he portrayed on the silver screen, passenger or not. Many news sources say he was out "on a joy-ride" with his race-car buddy. And to those who say he was 'attending a charity event', please! He was in a car which crashed. RIP, Walker. You will be missed.
Eythan Aldrich
R.I.P. TO PAUL WALKER....THE TRUE SKYLINE LOVER... :(
KnowBetter
A car rarely wraps its self around a tree or lamp standard nearly splitting in two, bursting into flames and killing its occupants unless something went horribly wrong in a very short time (sudden surge of power without the driver's input) or the driver was throttling it.
Frankly, I know there are some cars out there that I am sure will kill you if you try and drive them hard and while on the track. On a public road, I would never take one of these twitchy cars out for a romp because you just know it will all go wrong and you'll have no run off as you would on a closed track. Innocent people could be injured or killed and if you live through it, you'll have to live with those you injured or killed in your thoughts for the rest of you life.
Fox Cloud Lelean
When I first saw #RIPPaulWalker on Twitter, I thought "Oh great, another one of these Twitter deaths, how original." Absolutely shocked to learn that he actually has passed away. He was a talented actor. A few of my friends got to meet him at the Fast 5 premiere and they couldn't stop going on about how cool he was. I wish I'd been able to go with them, but circumstances didn't play out in my favour.
Hate that people are blaming the F&F movies, and even Paul himself for the increase in car related deaths. The Fast & Furious franchise is not the only racing series there is. There have been racing movies/tv programs and games for years before F&F came out. Not to mention that racing (all sorts, not just street) has been going on for decades as well. Fast & Furious just happened to be good enough to bring it to a wider audience is all. To blame the increase (if there is really an increase) on the franchise is bad enough, but to blame it on the actors is even worse. The actors and the film crew all stress how dangerous the stunts are, and how they're performed by professionals in controlled environments. The people getting killed in car accidents trying to mimic the stunts aren't professionals, and nor are they doing it in a controlled environment. Most of them, you'll find, are actually guys in their late teens/early twenties who know very little about cars or tuning, who have barely had their license more than a couple months, maybe a year. Usually they'll have been drinking as well. That seems to be a common trait with young men, need to sdrink a few beers before showing off. Because that doesn't dull your reaction time at all does it? So many people I've seen driving around in a Ford Fiesta or something with a Turbocharger bolted on, and you can just see they have no idea how it works. Then they go speeding around an industrial estate and wonder why their car blows up. A lot of the Street Racers I've known actually have qualifications to become Mechanics, they actually went to college and learned about vehicle maintenance. They didn't just look it up on Wikipedia. You can usually tell who the idiots are. They're the ones who put spoilers on the back of a car with Front Wheel Drive.
smithinjapan
Fox Cloud: So you never question something if an actor who portrays extreme racing and an actual car racer die in a car wreck?
"The actors and the film crew all stress how dangerous the stunts are, and how they're performed by professionals in controlled environments."
Obviously not here.
"The people getting killed in car accidents trying to mimic the stunts aren't professionals, and nor are they doing it in a controlled environment. Most of them, you'll find, are actually guys in their late teens/early twenties who know very little about cars or tuning, who have barely had their license more than a couple months, maybe a year. Usually they'll have been drinking as well."
So you are saying he was drunk on his joy-ride.
"A lot of the Street Racers I've known actually have qualifications to become Mechanics, they actually went to college and learned about vehicle maintenance."
I find your capitalization of 'Street Racers', as though it were a job, interesting. Kind of downplays your whole idea of safety. You actually encourage this crime? You know scumbags who street race and kill other people? and then you try to defend it because they might qualify as mechanics?
http://stop-street-racing.org/street-racing-stats.htm
KariHaruka
Really hoped this was a hoax but I'm just devastated by this bit of news.
RIP to Paul Walker & his my friends. My thoughts are with their family and friends right now
Fox Cloud Lelean
@smithinjapan Spare me your anti-Street Racing propoganda. The people I know are NOT scumbags. They don't excessively drink, they don't take drugs, they don't have histories of violence or abusive conduct. They're generally nice people who chose Street Racing as a means of recreation, although a few prefer to call it a job, since they earn more money from it than from their "legitimate" careers.
I'm not saying they might be mechanics. At least three of them actually are certified mechanics, the others possess the qualifications to pursue it as a career but chose not to. They understand that there are risks involved in Street Racing, and usually take steps to reduce the risk of injury, including the fitting of safety harnesses and roll cages, despite those adding weight and reducing the overall performance of the car. None of them have ever injured a person in a race, let alone killed. I defend them because they are my friends, and because they are responsible adults, and not the immature morons I mentioned who drink and drive, or modify their cars without having a clue what they're doing.
I don't question Paul Walker's death because I'm quite sure it was an accident. It's possible that there was some reckless driving involved. But accidents happen no matter what you drive, or how fast. In the end, it doesn't matter what was being driven. Even cars with a five star safety rating can crash while performance cars can survive the same scenario.
Your assertion that a stunt was involved is unfounded, and frankly offensive. This was an accident. Trying to say otherwise is an insult to Paul Walker and to his friend. And at no point did I state that he was drunk, or that he was driving. The article clearly states he was not behind the wheel. I stated that most people who die in these kinds of accidents are drunk, and that they are usually younger male drivers, showing off for their friends.
Perhaps you should actually read what I have written and understand it, then comment in a manner that isn't overflowing with your biased opinion of Street Racers. Clearly you have a very narrow and discriminatory view of them if you label them all as scumbags who kill people, even though you have never met the ones I know and therefore know nothing about them.
slumdog
Reports suggests he was a passenger, not the driver.
davestrousers
No need for any propaganda, it kills people. End of.
smithinjapan
Fox Cloud: "@smithinjapan Spare me your anti-Street Racing propoganda. The people I know are NOT scumbags. "
The people you know who do it are criminals, plain and simple. And people die, obviously.
bookowls
As quoted from the LA Sheriff's department: "Speed was a factor in the solo vehicle collision," the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department said in a updated statement late Saturday.
The driver was definitely speeding. What Paul Walker was doing while the speeding was going on ..well we'll never know. Hopefully as I mentioned above, he was telling the driver to slow it down.
I wrote my comment before the LA Sheriff's department had made any announcement. Regardless, it doesn't justify the insensitive and uncaring nature of some people commenting. As you said, hopefully he was telling the driver to slow down.
smithinjapan
bookowls: "I wrote my comment before the LA Sheriff's department had made any announcement. Regardless, it doesn't justify the insensitive and uncaring nature of some people commenting."
Actually, it completely justifies what you call 'uncaring' comments. Had they not been speeding, they would not be dead, would they? And talking about street racing (where theResident actually considers it a job and a good thing!) it is illegal and leads to hundreds of deaths a year. These guys are included. I'll post a nice link again for those who pity the way this guy died.
http://stop-street-racing.org/street-racing-stats.htm
And that's only in the US.
Jean ValJean
It's always sad when someone loses their life, but there's a world of difference between death due to illness or accident and joyriding at high speed recklessly. It's good no innocent bystanders died or were injured by these two dopes.
kwatt
It seems that he really dug his own grave. His accident is very much as same as James Dean's
nath
A life lost is a life lost, in this case the star wasn't even driving. RIP.
C Harald Hansen
Dean was driving the car, Walker wasn't. So it wasn't really the same.
smithinjapan
C Harald: "Dean was driving the car, Walker wasn't. So it wasn't really the same."
He was a willing participant in the racing, so it IS in fact the same. Death by stupidity, sad as it is. As Jean ValJean said, though, fortunately no innocent bystanders were killed this time around.
The Chronic
@smithinjapan said: "He was a willing participant in the racing, so it IS in fact the same. Death by stupidity, sad as it is. "
What a stupid comment. You or anybody else for that matter have no idea how Paul Walker was reacting to the high speed driving of the dumb ass who got himself and Paul killed. For all we know, Paul could have been telling him to watch his speed. Have some respect for the departed. Sheesh!