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Just how much of a role, if any, did the vehicle itself play in the crash that took the lives ofPaul Walker and Roger Rodas?
Tragically, Walker had been getting ready to leave his Reach Out Worldwide charity event on Saturday and had already said most of his goodbyes when he and Rodas decided to take the 2005 Porsche Carrera GT that they ultimately died in out for a test drive.
The Porsche had been stalling and Rodas suggested that they go for a drive to try to diagnose the problem, and Walker agreed, a source who witnessed the exchange exclusively told E! News Monday.
“I’ve seen both Paul and Roger drive on the race track,” the source said. “These guys are good drivers. They are responsible drivers.”
The pair wanting to take the sports car for a spin seemed perfectly normal, the witness added, saying, “That’s typical of any car shop. If it has an issue, people will take it out and see what’s wrong with it.”
Walker was “smiling and happy,” the source recalled. The 40-year-old actor then jumped in the car, fastened his seat belt and “said something like, ‘be right back.'”
As for suggestions that drag racing was involved, the area in which the crash occurred said to be a popular spot for street racing, the source reiterated that the guys were “responsible” and he found it hard to fathom that Walker and Rodas had decided to “do 100 on a side street” just for a joyride.
They were gone “maybe five minutes…they had just taken off,” the source continued, when a blue BMW M3 came screeching into the parking lot and the driver shouted, “‘There’s been a crash, somebody come help!'”
“Some people from the event jumped in the car and drove up there. Some guys grabbed fire extinguishers, and went there, that’s when they realized it was Paul and Roger. The fire department had already been called…It was bad, it was not something people should have to see.”
The Porsche had slammed into a light pole and burst into flames near Hercules Street at Kelly Johnson Parkway in Santa Clarita, Calif.
A spokesman for the L.A. County Coroner Department confirmed earlier today that remains have still not been officially identified, but autopsies are tentatively scheduled for Tuesday.
