The sudden car crash death of plastic surgeon to the stars Dr. Frank Ryan yesterday was ruled today to be both due to blunt force trauma to the head… and Twitter?
Dr. Ryan’s last interactions with the world were immortalized, in two final tweets about a hike with his collie, Jill:
After 25 years of driving by, I finally hiked to the top of the giant sand dune on the pch west of malibu. Much harder than it looks! Whew!
http://twitpic.com/2fflev – Border collie jill surveying the view from atop the sand dune
And while blunt force trauma was Dr. Ryan’s official cause of death, an ex-girlfriend says police believe that the high-profile doc- who treated patients such as Heidi Montag and Shauna Sand- may have been distracted by Twitter at the time of the fatal accident:
Charmaine Blake, who lived with Ryan for three years and had remained friends with him, told People magazine that Ryan’s family was told by investigators that Tweeting caused the wreck. Blake said Ryan was sending a Twitter message about his dog Jill when the crash occurred. The dog was in the car at the time but survived with head and paw injuries.
The California Highway Patrol has confirmed that Dr. Ryan was tweeting just before his death, but hasn’t officially said the two are related. Toxicology reports may take as long as eight weeks to be completed.
