My first reaction to this video was, of course, “Oh, God…look at that.” It happened in the vicinity of 28300 Rye Canyon Loop, Santa Clarita, or more precisely on Hercules Street. The guy shooting the video wants to see the horror (a common instinct) but he doesn’t want to be in the vicinity if the car explodes. Shards from the Porsche Carrera are all over the place. “Whoa, whoa…not too close, bro!….it might explode!…doooood!” Right away the voice tells you this is an under-educated young guy who probably has some lowly job. The bright blue color of their somewhat inexpensive-looking car…forget it, not important.
This Tyrese Gibson video, shot yesterday at the crash site, is a little weird. Walker’s costar in the Fast and the Furious franchise is obviously deeply affected by the loss, but he seems to be expressing his grief in a way that almost feels like a small performance. The onlookers, standing still in a semi-circle with their phone cameras, are obviously giving Gibson a wide berth, but he’s the only one roaming around. “Look, it’s one of the guys in the movie…he’s feeling it. Make sure you get this. How’s your battery?”
I love this sentence from a 12.2 L.A. Times story (written by Richard Winton and Hailey Branson Potts) about the aftermath of Saturday’s tragedy: “Speed may have been a factor in the crash, which occurred about 3:30 p.m. on Hercules Street, a normally quiet road with a 45-mph speed limit, authorities said. Walker was apparently the passenger in the 2005 red Porsche Carrera GT.”