POLICE told CNN drag racing with another car may have led to walker's fatal crash
Santa Clarita, California (CNN) -- Investigators have been unable to find evidence of a second car in the accident that killed popular "Fast & Furious" actor Paul Walker on Saturday, a Los Angeles County Sheriff's spokesman said Monday.
The probe now centers on the speed of the 2005 Porsche Carrera GT, driven by Walker's racing team partner, the spokesman told CNN.
Earlier, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Sgt. Richard Cohen told CNN that authorities received a tip Sunday suggesting that another car was at the scene racing the Porsche when it slammed into a light pole and burst into flames.
But investigators have since ruled out the presence of a second vehicle and the theory that the Porsche was drag racing, a spokesman said Monday afternoon.
Speed was a factor in the crash, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office said. A 45 mph speed limit sign was attached to the light pole knocked down by the Porsche.
The car, which sold for $450,000 when new, is a notoriously difficult vehicle to handle, even for professional drivers, according to Autoweek magazine. A top driver called it "scary," the magazine reported Sunday. It is powered by a V-10, 610-hp engine
Jim Torp, a car enthusiast who was at the charity event that Walker attended before the wreck, said Walker was smiling as he got into the Porsche minutes earlier.
Torp thought he heard a blast in the distance before the car slammed into a light pole, he said. "What the first explosion was, I don't know if their tire blew up, because it sounded like a tire blew on the car," Torp told CNN Monday.
Tire skid marks on the asphalt near the crash site, which indicate a car was doing doughnut spins, also are being looked at, Cohen said. It has not been concluded that they are related to the Walker wreck, he said. The street has a reputation for fast drivers, which spurred a crackdown by deputies two years ago, he said.
Torp told CNN that he looked closely at the skid marks and concluded they were left by a car with smaller tires.
Walker and Roger Rodas, who was believed to be driving, died in the wreck on Hercules Street, a wide business park road, in the community of Valencia inside the city of Santa Clarita, about 30 miles north of Hollywood, according to Walker's publicist and CNN affiliate KCAL.
The autopsies on the remains taken from the wreckage are scheduled for Tuesday, according to Lt. Fred Corral of the Los Angeles County coroner's office. Investigators are still waiting for dental X-rays for each man to help in making the official identifications, Corral said.
Walker and other stars who died during production
Stunned fans, a grieving father
Walker's family issued a written statement Monday expressing thanks for "the outpouring of love and goodwill from his many fans and friends."
They asked that instead of flowers, people make donations to his charity Reach Out Worldwide.
"It's comforting for them to know that the son, brother, and father they love so much is equally adored, respected, and appreciated by so many," the statement said. "Paul founded the organization with the genuine desire to help others, and it's important to his family to keep his memory alive through ROWW."
No memorial service plans have been made, Walker's publicist said Monday.
Stunned by Walker's untimely death, fans, friends and family remembered what he meant to them and what he did for them.
His father remembered him as a loving son who wanted to take a hiatus from acting. A fellow actor said he had just celebrated Walker's 40th birthday. And a U.S. military veteran will forever be grateful for a touching act of generosity.
Day and night since the crash, legions of fans gathered near the charred roadside where Walker died.
Tyrese Gibson, Walker's co-star in several "Fast & Furious" movies, broke down as he laid a yellow flower at the site.
"My heart is hurting so bad no one can make me believe this is real," the singer and actor posted on Instagram. He also shared the duo's last text exchange.
Paul Walker Sr. choked back tears as he remembered his son.
"His heart was so big," he told CNN affiliate KCAL. "I was proud of him every day of his life."
The actor told his father that he wanted to take a hiatus from acting to spend more time with his 15-year-old daughter, Meadow, the elder Walker said. "And then boom, he got another movie. He would say, 'I don't know what to do.'"
He said the actor's siblings are having an especially hard time grappling with the death.
"I'm just ... glad that every time I saw him, I told him I loved him," the father said. "And he would say the same thing to me."
Remarkable generosity
Tales of Walker's philanthropy are not new. CNN confirmed one story from a decade ago when Walker noticed a young U.S. soldier shopping with his fiancee for a wedding ring in a Santa Barbara jewelry store.
"The groom was just back from duty in Iraq, and he was going to be deployed again soon and wanted to buy a wedding ring, but he said he just could not afford it," saleswoman Irene King told CNN. "I don't think the soldier realized how expensive those rings are, about $10,000."
The couple apparently did not know who Walker was, King said.
"Walker called the manager over and said, 'Put that girl's ring on my tab,'" she said. "Walker left all his billing info, and it was a done deal. The couple was stunned. She was thrilled and could not believe someone did this."
King called it "the most generous thing I have ever seen."
Future of franchise
At the time of his death, Walker was working on the seventh film of the franchise, due out next year.
It's unclear how the film's production might proceed. When Oliver Reed died in the middle of the production of "Gladiator," the rest of his scenes included a digitally produced image of his face on another actor's body, Tom O'Neil, editor of the show business website Goldderby.com, told CNN.
In some cases, other actors have filled in for co-stars who have passed away.
"We don't know what they'll do here, or even if they'll just say, "It may be tasteless to proceed at all because we can't be showing Paul Walker in a speeding car, defying death in a movie that ended up being the way he died,'" O'Neil said.
CNN
