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Celebrity News December 07, 2013

Paul Walker Death: Childhood Friend Tried to Pull Actor from the Fiery Wreckage

In some of the startling images of the horrific car accident that killed Paul Walker and Roger Rodas last weekend, one reportedly showed a man being restrained by first responders.

According to NY Daily News, the man has now been identified as Paul Walker's longtime friend Newton Wimer, who would have seriously injured himself if he had not been stopped.

A source told the Daily News that Wimer, 27, was a fabricator and racing engineer at Walker and Rodas's auto shop Always Evolving. “They were like family, like brothers. It's tough. They were childhood friends… He's exactly the person I'd expect to go head first into the fire to pull them out.”

[photo: Weather Channel's "Weather Proof"]

A friend also told Daily Mail, "Newt is absolutely devastated by what has happened. He is a brave man and he did everything he could that day. He would have carried on if he hadn't been restrained. In fact it's lucky he was or he could have died, too."

Walker, 40, and Rodas, 38, died tragically November 30 when a 2005 Porsche Carrera GT piloted by Rodas crashed into a light pole and tree just minutes after leaving a charity event at Always Evolving attended by Wimer.

The autopsy results show Rodas' death was attributed to "multiple traumatic injuries" while Walker's was caused by the "combined effects of traumatic and thermal injuries.” The audio recording of the first responders, who arrived on the scene within minutes, said the two died almost immediately.

The cause of the incident remains under investigation, but police have said speed was a factor.

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