Police said the 27-year-old rising star had momentarily exited his auto.
Advertisement
Yelchin, best known for his role as Chekov in the rebooted Star Trek trilogy, was found by his friends around 1am after failing to show up for a rehearsal.
“Actor Anton Yelchin was killed in a fatal traffic collision early this morning”, said a statement from his representative. He said it appeared as though Yelchin hadn’t properly put his auto in park. He had gotten out of the vehicle momentarily, but police did not say why he was behind it when it started rolling.
Filmmaker JJ Abrams, who directed Anton in 2009’s Star Trek and its 2013 follow up Star Trek Into Darkness, wrote a touching note that he shared online.
The vehicle that fatally pinned Anton Yelchin on Sunday outside his Studio City home had recently been recalled due to “rollaway risk”.
Actor Anton Yelchin, best known for portraying the young Russian navigator Pavel Chekov in the Star Trek reboot movie series, was killed in a freak accident on June 19 at 1 a.m. when he was crushed by his own auto.
According to a report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Jeep’s gear shift is built in such a way that it can be tough to tell what gear the vehicle is in. Vehicle owners had cited “rollaways” after they thought the auto was in park.
The voluntary recall covers issues involving parent company Fiat Chrysler’s electric shifters and a design that has for some customers been confusing and hard to use. The company is working on a fix and expects to have a software update ready in July or August. “So, at this time we’re not sure what caused it, but that’s something investigators are looking at”.
Advertisement
Fiat Chrysler is now investigating Yelchin’s death, due to reports that the vehicle which caused it was a model recalled for a poorly designed electronic shift lever. Now, with Yelchin’s death, that statement has gained a new and tragic significance. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an upwards of 212 crashes, 308 property damage claims and 41 injuries have been caused by the Jeep’s tricky shifting mechanism. It sounds a chime if the door is opened while the engine is still running – but will not automatically shut down the ignition.
