Los Angeles - "Fast & Furious" star Paul Walker may have initially survived a horrific car crash but died moments later due to a combination of injuries from the impact and the resulting fire, according to a coroner's report.
The one-page preliminary
report released by the Los Angeles County coroner's office Wednesday
listed the cause of the actor's death as the "combined effects of
traumatic and thermal injuries."
An autopsy concluded that Roger Rodas,
who was driving the red Porsche Carerra GT, suffered "multiple
traumatic injuries," but it was not clear in the report if he was still
alive when the car burst into flames soon after the wreck.
Since two different
doctors did the separate autopsies, the difference in the description of
their injuries does not mean there deaths were significantly different,
Los Angeles County Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter told CNN.
It is not known how long
each man lived after the crash as the fire began, Winter said. That
information may be included when full autopsy reports are released in
several weeks, he said.
Actor Paul Walker dies
The coroner confirmed
what many witnesses told investigators: Rodas was the driver in the
crash; Walker was the passenger of the high-performance Porsche that
clipped a light pole and a tree before erupting in flames on a Southern
California street Saturday afternoon.
The deaths were officially ruled an accident by the coroner.