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Dr. Frank Ryan's last tweet caused his death, ex-girlfriend says
Hollywood plastic surgeon Dr. Frank Ryan's fatal car accident on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu on Monday (Aug 16) could have been caused by tweeting about his invigorating hike with his dog."He lived up in Malibu on a tiny street and he was texting while driving, and he accidentally went over the cliff," his ex-girlfriend Charmaine Blake tells People.
She says Ryan's family was told by police investigators that texting while driving contributed to the fatal crash.
Minutes before the crash, Ryan's Twitter account reads, "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!"
Ryan's last tweet includes a beautiful picture (above left): "Border collie jill surveying the view from atop the sand dune."
His dog was thrown from the Jeep and landed in the ocean, suffering injuries to her head, eye and paw. She is now recovering back at Ryan's Malibu Bony Pony ranch. Jill is also receiving many prayers and well wishes on TwitPic.
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Photo credits: Frank Ryan Twitter
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This is why tweeting while driving ANYWHERE is dangerous..People
today are so stupid..Everyone
thinks they are invincable when
driving. We are not.
I hope Jill makes a full recovery
both Physacly and mentaly, she just
lost her owner/best friend in a
terrifying way...Poor dog is probably
going to have nightmares the rest
of her life..
Cell phones in cars in any form
should be illegal.
people really need to learn how to spell
You guys didn't even stop to think that maybe English isn't that poster's first language. Stop being jerks.
Anyways texting and driving is dumb. I hope he rests in peace though.
I am so sick of seeing ppl weaving in their lanes driving while they are busy talking/texting on their cell phones. YOUR LIFE IS NOT THAT INTERESTING THAT YOU HAVE TO SHARE EVERY DETAIL WITH EVERYONE ALL THE TIME. duh. i hope this man's unnecessary death is a wake up call for ppl to change. RIP to Dr Ryan.
Please learn how to spell before you try to post some heartfelt comment.
he spelled fine, you're a moron
This is an easily preventable situation with a simple solution. DON'T TEXT AND DRIVE!!! It's that easy. For more stories, articles,and comments on related events please visit Textkills.com. Stay safe.
this is tragic. the world lost a great doctor yesterday. It's almost ridiculous to think the he drove off a cliff because he was tweeting about a dog, i mean really?! was it that important?! luckily i don't have to worry about driving off cliffs with SMSreplier downloaded on my android (you can get it to at SMSreplier.net its pretty sexy). this should be used as a learning tool for the uneducated and a reminder for everyone else. My heart goes out to his friends and family. God bless.
What an idiot. This is why I'm really glad of the strict driving laws in Australia - no texting while driving, no phone calls without hands-free while driving, no phone calls at all for learner and provisional class licences. If the tweet was so urgent (and it wasn't) why didn't he do it when at the top of the hill after the hike, not in his car.
My theory always is - if I need to make a text or call when driving then I need to pull over and do it while stationary. I have hands free and will sometimes answer calls while driving, but only on rare occasions. It's just not safe.
Drivers on the road are unpredictable enough without adding mobile phones into the mix. I hope soon the rest of the world wakes up to just how dangerous that extra bit of distraction can be.
All said and done, whether he was tweeting or not, it is a very tragic thing to have happened. Many lost a great surgeon, friend and member of the family, let alone poor Jill. Hope she can recover and be taken care of and loved the rest of her life.