Paul Walker Crash: Driver's Son Tried to Save Them

Boy, 8, was at the scene
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 1, 2013 11:52 AM CST
Paul Walker Crash: Driver's Son Tried to Save Them
File-This March 21, 2013 file photo shows actor Paul Walker.   (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)

An awful detail from the death of Paul Walker and a friend yesterday: The 8-year-old son of Roger Rodas, who was driving the Porsche when it crashed, tried to save his dad and the actor. The accident happened close enough to Rodas' Always Evolving Performance Motors high-end auto shop that people there heard it, Radar reports. One friend says he ran over and "was trying to find Roger's son," he tells the New York Daily News. "I found out his son had jumped the fence and gone over, he was trying to get his dad out." Walker and Rodas had been at the shop for a car show, arranged by Walker to raise money for victims of Typhoon Haiyan; Walker's 15-year-old daughter was also at the event.

Another friend describes Rodas as Walker's "brother in arms at heart," and says the two "just decided to joyride, take a spin. Something we all do. We're all car enthusiasts." He says a number of people from the shop ran to the scene with fire extinguishers, but couldn't put out the flames engulfing the vehicle. It's still not clear what happened: The friend who found Rodas' son at the scene insists Rodas was "not reckless" and had driven away from the shop slowly; the crash reportedly happened "just one street over" less than a minute after they left. "It was clear the car had hit two trees then finally hit a street lamppost. Parts of the car were strewn everywhere on the street, as far as 150 feet," he says. "I didn't see any skid marks. Where the car had crashed was on a long straightaway. How fast they were going, I don't know." (More Paul Walker stories.)

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