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