Ed Winter, spokesman for the Los Angeles county medical examiner, confirmed the cause of Yelchin’s death was accidental and the result of “blunt traumatic asphyxia”.
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“We are looking into that”, an LAPD spokesperson told People magazine Monday, referring to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ April recall of the 2014 and 2015 model years.
“Our hearts are heavy with this tragic news and Anton’s family and friends are in our thoughts”, said “Trollhunters” producers Netflix and DreamWorks Animation in a statement. The company also says, though, that it’s “premature to speculate on the cause of this tragedy”.
The 27-year-old actor’s body was pinned between the Jeep and the gate of his Studio City, Calif., home on June 19.
On Monday, the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed that his auto was one of the 248,667 models that were recalled because of a transmission defect.
Yelchin was killed when the SUV rolled away and pinned him against a fence in Los Angeles, police said on Sunday. Several had exited their vehicles without having engaged Park as intended, leading to rollaway events despite warning lights and sounds created to prevent this from happening.
The car’s manufacturer Fiat Chrysler had issued a global recall of the vehicles in April at the urging of Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The recalled vehicles, including almost 812,000 in the US, have an electronic shift lever that toggles forward or backward to let the driver select the gear instead of moving along a track like a conventional shifter.
It’s not clear why Yelchin might have gotten out of his auto.
The cast and creators of “Star Trek Beyond” paid tribute to Yelchin on Sunday, with producer J.J. Abrams posting on Twitter, “You were brilliant”.
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His Star Trek co-stars, including Zoe Saldana and Zachary Quinto, tweeted as news of his death broke, with John Cho – who plays Sulu – saying Yelchin’s passing had left him “in ruins”. You were kind. You were amusing as hell, and supremely talented. “And you weren’t here almost long enough”.
