People Magazine has an interview with celebrity plastic surgeon Dr. Frank Ryan’s ex girlfriend, who sounds like she was on and off with him and had a good relationship with him up until he died in a fatal car crash on Monday afternoon. According to the ex girlfriend, police told the family that Ryan was texting and driving when he went off a cliff on a small road near the Pacific Coast Highway and crashed his car. Ryan’s pet border collie, Jill, survived the crash with injuries and may already be home, where she will be cared for by a member of Ryan’s staff. Ryan had hiked to a sand dune near the Pacific Coast Highway and his last tweet was a photo of his dog Jill sitting there overlooking the ocean. According to his ex, sending that tweet lead to the accident that caused his death. Here’s People’s report, which notes that police have not determined whether texting caused the accident and that it’s just a potential factor. They may have said something else to the family, though:
Dr. Frank Ryan, plastic surgeon to Heidi Montag and other celebrities, was sending a Twitter message about his border collie just before his fatal car accident, his ex-girlfriend tells PEOPLE.
“He lived up in Malibu on a tiny street and he was texting while driving and he accidentally went over the cliff,” Charmaine Blake says.
Blake, a celebrity publicist, says Ryan’s family was told by investigators that the Tweeting caused the wreck on Monday.
The dog, whose name is Jill – Blake’s middle name – was in the car at the time of the crash and survived injuries to the head, eye and paw.
The California Highway Patrol confirms Ryan was texting before the crash, but investigators have not officially determined the cause of the accident.
“It is one of the elements that we are investigating,” CHP Officer Steven Reid says.
Blake says she lived with Ryan from 2003 to 2006. After breaking up, they remained close and Ryan was also helping support her, says Blake.
“It was the only serious relationship I ever had and he was the love of my life,” Blake, 29, says. “It was hard for us to stay away from each other.”
She adds that she hopes other people learn from this tragedy that “people should not text and drive at all.”
[From People]
What I don’t understand, and something that several of you pointed out in our earlier post, is that the tweet was sent at around 4:10 PM on Monday but the accident is listed as occurring at 4:30 PM. It’s possible that the accident was caused by something else and that he sent the tweet well before he got in the car. We may never know, and either way it’s a sad reminder of how dangerous it is to use your phone while driving, particularly to text.
This guy will be remembered as the plastic surgeon who did ten surgeries on Heidi Montag at once (but did subsequently cut her off) and is responsible for Shauna Sand’s extreme look. He also had his own charitable foundation to help at risk children experience the outdoors and was an animal lover. Ryan had a sense of humor too as seen in the spoof spot for MomLogic, below, (a “toddler plastic surgery” bit that many took seriously) along with a Webisode in which he treated and made fun of Shauna Sand. (In this video in his office with Shauna Sand she says “I want to look natural,” and he quips “with the natural hair, and breasts and spray tan and stuff.” He also makes fun of how she told TMZ she had a “nerve block.” He’s funny!) He had just celebrated his 50th birthday party with friends and family this May on his “Bony Pony Ranch”. (You can watch a video of the party on his website, which worked for me earlier but is currently down.) I thought the guy was at least 10 years younger, but go figure. RIP Dr. Frank.
The “Toddler Plastic Surgery” spoof – again this is a spoof! He’s a good actor and just plays it straight.
Dr. Ryan is shown in photos from 2010, 2009 and 2005 (spiky hair and scruff.) The photos are show below from recent to older, and he looks younger in the more recent photos. Credit: WENN.com
He looks a bit like Liberace, who was no stranger to plastic surgery himself.
That clip is freaking hilarious. Sad he went in such an unnecessary way.
I’d be interested to know if the 4:30 time of accident is an actual, say from a witness, or approximation made on scene by police. If it’s an approximation, he could have been there longer than they thought, pointing well to the texting theory.
Anyone know? I might have missed it somewhere.
Also, I could never text and drive. I get nervous just glancing over to see what temp my A/C is set to!
🙁
ANY cell phone use while driving makes me furious! I think it’s as bad as drinking and driving- it’s just a shitty thing to do to the other drivers on the road.
It’s a shame someone with his obvious talents, (Really? Shauna Sand? Blech.) was killed at such a young age, but I think he looked every day of his 50 years! plastic surgery doesn’t ALWAYS equal “youth”. It just looks wierd.
I fully oppose to texting and driving. However, I don’t think his tweet was done while he was driving. Since it’s a picture of the dog laying on the ground which would’ve had to be taken outside the car, then, I’m assuming, posted immediately after. Anyhow, that’s just my opinion.
ITA Sarah. I know people do stupid things, but it would be logical to have tweeted the picture right after it was taken, not ” oh, let me get back in the car, start driving, then tweet”
No one will ever know but the Dr. and his doggie.
Hope doggie will recover.
When will people learn that texting and driving DO NOT MIX! Its more dangerous than driving while drunk. I dont understand how this hasnt been made illegal yet. Its insane for people to think they can drive and type messages at the same time. If it were that easy they would install keyboards in dashboards.
I dont even talk on my cell while driving b/c I know how distracting some conversations can be.
I lose sympathy when I find these accidents were caused by a stupid text or tweeted message.
How many more will have to die before stricter laws are put into effect about this?
Where was the cell phone (blackberry?) in his car? If it was open and in the cab then he was probably texting. If in his pants pockets, not so likely.
Either way, it should draw attention to the fact that driving is a dangerous activity. We tend to forget because we get in our cars everyday to do mundane stuff, but it always demands focus. We have to stop taking risks in our cars and really know how to manage that road.
He might have been in the process of writing a text that was not sent because he crashed.
It’s illegal where I live, and I’m relieved. Especially with teens, who already tend to suck at driving, are total textaholics.
This is truly sad & highly preventable. It is shown that texting while driving is worse than being intoxicated behind the wheel. A person cannot operate an automobile with 100% precision while looking down at a device.
That is why your ID is called an operator’s licence. You are operating a piece of machinery that is a good 3-4 thousands pounds. I think people tend to forget that no matter what education they have or who they are. It’s truly very sad.
Poor, sweet dog.
It’s completely logical that he could have been responding a tweet to someone who commented on his picture tweet. (that seems just so ridiculous to even type.. couldn’t they have named it something else!?) I hope this raises awareness of the extreme DANGER we all face at the hands of people texting and tweeting while they drive. You can ALWAYS spot them on the road.. they drive just like they are drunk.. and they kill people and themselves just like they are driving drunk. Get a desgnated tweeter .. or don’t do it. I hope to God this opens people’s eyes.
Glad the dog’s OK! Such a scary thing, texting and driving, I wish people would understand that looking away for 2 seconds is long enough to swerve into oncoming traffic or off a ledge.
If this is true, how can we expect teens not to tweet? For a 50 year old, well-educated man to do something so stupid shows that bad judgment spans the entire age range. Kids think they are immortal, but adults should have a clue.
Canadianchick, are you in B.C.? It’s illegal here, for a very good reason.
I’m sad for him and his loved ones.
It is illegal in British Columbia to text or talk and drive. Technology is great but some people are glued to their devices like a baby bottle. If this is the cause of his accident, it was tragically unnecessary.
From BC but I live in the prairies now. Sorry to hear of the HST, boooo…
@Angela and everyone – actually it’s been shown that it’s just as bad if not worse to talk on the phone and drive as it is to drive drunk. I think texting is even worse. My parents live in a state in the US where it’s still legal to talk on the phone and drive. When visiting them, I’ve seen cops driving while on their personal cell phones. (More than once.) It’s illegal to text and drive in that state, but it should also be illegal to talk on the phone without a hands free device.
One of the two webisodes on his Bony Pony Ranch site is about him and a colleague being late for a radio interview, and shows them filming him speeding through LA from inside another car, whose driver also turns the camera on himself. They also pull up next to each other and joke about being “dead meat” for being late. No way to undo the past, but if only they’d been more concerned about the much more possible death associated with wreckless driving…
…UGH. TMZ just posted pictures of the accident scene. Thank you, thank you, thank you, CB, for actually displaying tact and sensitivity in a cultural setting so often devoid of it.
It is illegal in California to use a phone (including texting) while driving. This dr was breaking the law if that is in fact what happened. But the law is largely ignored and hard to enforce.
“I lose sympathy when I find these accidents were caused by a stupid text or tweeted message.”
me, too. and you can put yapping on a cellphone on that list. 8 years ago i was rear ended at a stoplight by some dumbass who told me she “didn’t realize the light was red” (!) because she was on the phone. after whiplash and physical therapy i see a chiropractor regularly because i still have a ribhead that pops out of place and causes me alot of pain. so thanks, dumbass on your cell phone, where ever you are.
Wanted to say, Celebitchy, this is a great, objective article. I commented yesterday. I did not know this man, but I think is important right now, since the police haven’t even decided what the cause of the accident was, to be objective. Yes, he made earlier “tweets”, but an hour prior. And his “girlfriend’s” account to “People” stating the “facts” seems odd too, I think. She said he lived on a tiny road and went off a cliff while texting. OK, he might have lived on a tiny road, but he was on Pacific Coast Highway when he crashed, not the tiny road to his home. So why did she say that? If it turns out his phone was discovered with a half-completed text, the police will be able to probably conclude that he was texting. Like someone said, if his phone was in his pocket, then that probably wasn’t it. To me, it would just be sad if people ended up thinking that he died of “tweeting” or “texting” when it easily could have been a rock falling, or a rabbit, chipmunk, coyote, etc., jumping out out in the road and startling him. Maybe we’ll just never know, like they are saying. But I live in So. Cal., 8 miles from a section of PCH, and trust me, it just as easily have been an animal darting out. For people to jump to “he was tweeting” or “texting” is just wrong and sad at this point. Why do people do that with no facts? Do they feel superior because they can jump in there and soundly bash somebody with a “comment”, true or not, with no one there to argue back? So, I do appreciate your article.
Sounds like he studied the wrong part of the bird. Should have learned to wing, not tweet.
Honestly with all the technological distractions we have now a days i am surprised we dont have self driving cars yet. We have google earth to map every inch of the Earth and satelites all over the fucking place but we still cannot get cars that drive themselves!!!Deaths like these are very unnecessary in the time we live in but most people are too busy texting and not demanding that we have self driving cars. I got a ticket for listening to my messages while driving 5 mile an hour in rush hour traffic on 5 and was pissed off because the law made no sence to me, not to mention i have seen soo many cops talking on the phone as they drive by, Anyway, its sad that we dont have self navogating electric cars that run on free energy. This is the future and we have been robbed.
this is a good imformation and impressive article.I did save this website.
Advantageously, the post is in reality the sweetest on this worthy topic. I harmonise along with your conclusions and can thirstily sit up for your forthcoming updates. Just saying thanks won’t simply be ample, for the tremendous readability in your writing. I’ll directly grab your rss feed to stay abreast of any updates. Fabulous work and much success in your corporation enterprize!