It was seven years ago today that Hollywood actor Paul Walker had enjoyed a day with friends at a charity fundraiser in Los Angeles.
Little did the Fast and Furious star know that when he agreed to take a spin in friend Roger Rodas’ 2005 Porsche Carrera GT, the ride would be his last.
The car crashed into a concrete lamppost at high speed, tearing the vehicle almost in half and killing both Paul, 40, and Roger in an inferno of fire in the mangled wreckage.
Helpless witnesses tried to extinguish the molten fireball that enveloped the car, but the flames could not be stopped.
Paul’s daughter Meadow didn’t agree and filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Porsche, claiming her father initially survived the crash and could have escaped but was trapped by his seatbelt.
According to the lawsuit, which was obtained by TMZ and vigorously contested by Porsche, Paul was alive for one minute and 20 seconds after impact but couldn’t get out because the seatbelt “snapped Walker’s torso back with thousands of pounds of force, thereby breaking his ribs and pelvis”.
But Porsche defended itself stating Paul was a “knowledgeable and sophisticated user” of the sports car and argued: “The perils, risk, and danger were open and obvious and known to him, and he chose to conduct himself in a manner so as to expose himself to such perils, dangers, and risks, thus assuming all the risks involved in using the vehicle.”
The battle was resolved in 2017 when the wrongful death lawsuit was withdrawn and a settlement reached although the terms have never been disclosed.
Walker’s daughter is all grown up and she’s cherishing the memories with her late dad ahead of the seventh anniversary of his death. Taking to her social media, Meadow Walker posted a rare and heartwarming shot from her childhood with her “Fast & Furious” actor father.
“Rest in Peace beautiful soul ❤️? and Happy Thanksgiving ❤️,” one person commented. “You dad loves you so much meadow happy Thanksgiving,” posted a second. “Your father was a great person. He always lives in our and your heart,” shared another.
People went to Twitter to remember the late star.
Walker starred alongside Diesel in the first movie in the series, where they played adversaries back in 2001. In the fourth installment, the duo of Brian and Dom reunited and began to really work as a team. They became family over the the course of the subsequent films.
Walker died while the production of Furious 7 was still ongoing. Brian was written out of the story at the end of the film, as he parted ways with Dom and drove off into the sunset, as Charlie Puth and Wiz Khalifa’s song “See You Again” played in the background.
Movie fans will never forget Walker and his turn as Brian O’Conner, as you can see in the tweets.
Rest in peace.
