Yelchin’s friends reportedly grew concerned after he didn’t show up to rehearsal, and found him dead in his driveway at about 1 A.M. His official cause of death was blunt traumatic asphyxia from his auto, which had somehow rolled onto him and pinned him against his brick mailbox.
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Fiat Chrysler is recalling more than 1.1 million model year 2014 and 2015 Jeep Cherokees as well as 2012 to 2014 model year Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300 sedans.
UPDATE: A spokesperson from FCA told Reuters the company would conduct a “thorough investigation” of Yelchin’s accident.
Fiat Chrysler released a statement on Monday saying it was investigating and it was to early to speculate on what caused the accident. The recall was to replace the shifters after critics and analysts discovered that the shifters for these cars confused their owners, allowing them to accidentally leave the auto in Neutral instead of Park.
The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had found there was a safety risk if drivers got out of some Fiat Chrysler models without first putting them in park mode, Fiat Chrysler said in April. The only way you could tell the auto wasn’t in park was if a small light was lit and a chime went off when you opened the driver’s side door.
After news of Yelchin’s death broke on Sunday, friends, co-stars, and fans reacted on Twitter and other social media, sharing memories of the actor and expressing sadness and regret at his passing. Apparently “drivers mistakenly believed they had placed the vehicles in park before exiting”.
These 2014 and 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokees had gear-shift designs that make it hard to determine what gear the vehicle is in.
Yelchin, an only child, was born in Russian Federation.
Star Trek and Green Room actor Anton Yelchin’s tragic death Sunday morning is more than just a tragedy.
Yelchin had more than 60 acting credits, but when J.J. Abrams cast him in his 2009 “Star Trek” reboot, Yelchin reached a new level of recognition in Hollywood.
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Yelchin moved to the United States when he was six months old with his parents, star figure skaters with the Leningrad Ice Ballet, and made his film debut at age nine in “A Man Is Mostly Water”.
