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Accident Reconstruction News Article 50 YEARS AFTER THE REBEL’S LAST RIDE, A NEW HIGH-TECH FORENSIC INVESTIGATION INTO JAMES DEAN’S TRAGIC DEATH SCIENTIFIC RESULTS PRESENTED IN PREMIERE OF NEW DOCUMENTARY ON THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL (WASHINGTON, D.C. – September 15, 2005) The irony is chilling. Hollywood’s iconic rebel James Dean once filmed a public service announcement urging drivers to be safe on the road: “Take it easy driving,” he said. “The life you save might be mine.” Just weeks later, on September 30, 1955, in a cruel twist of fate, the 24-year-old actor lost his life in a horrific car crash. But what really happened on that fateful day has remained a mystery. Investigators at the time did not have the sophisticated resources that are available today to answer the questions that still linger to this day: Was Dean a reckless driver? An amateur racer with a need for speed, did he try to outmaneuver the oncoming car? Is it possible the other driver didn’t even see him? And, most alarming, was James Dean even driving at the time of the crash? Now, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the tragic death
of this silver screen legend, a high-tech forensic analysis sheds new light
on what really happened at the moment of impact when the National Geographic
Channel (NGC) premieres Crash Science: James Dean’s Death on Thursday,
September 29, 2005 at 9pm ET/PT. Using 21st century technology to analyze
the original evidence, this one-hour special features accident reconstructionist
Mike Kennedy as he investigates the causes of the tragedy and what could
have prevented it. Dean’s lifelong obsession with speed and his love of racing was no secret. But did it kill him? As author Raskin states in the program, the inquest into the crash took on a circus atmosphere leaving many questions, with contradictory testimony and eyewitness accounts not given due credence. The day he died, he was traveling with his mechanic Rolf Weutherich in his brand new Porsche Spyder racecar. Witnesses alleged that he was going anywhere from 85-100mph at different points along the road that day. As he came up on a Y-intersection, he violently collided with a Ford Coupe driven by Donald Turnupseed. The impact demolished Dean’s car and smashed the left front end of the Ford. Dean’s body was found in the passenger seat and Weutherich was thrown from the car entirely. The findings from the investigation acquitted Turnupseed of any wrongdoing and the legend of James Dean as a reckless driver was born. Mike Kennedy’s modern high-tech investigation, however, provides new insight into the rebel’s last ride. Crash Science: James Dean’s Death follows Kennedy to the crash site where he uses state-of-the-art technology to determine if there were any possible obstructions to visibility for either driver such as dips in the road and weather conditions. He also employs the latest reconstruction software to upload the original crash photos, manipulating them to get a 3-D aerial view of the skid marks and the location of the cars and the victims after impact. Crash Science: James Dean’s Death examines the 50-year-old
mystery to set the record straight. But, even with the truth behind his
death revealed, James Dean’s reputation as a “bad boy”
and rebel live on. He lived life in the fast lane and even those who knew
him admit that Dean himself would appreciate the irony in how he died. Based at National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington, D.C., the National Geographic Channel is a joint venture between National Geographic Television & Film (NGT&F) and Fox Cable Networks. National Geographic Channel debuted to an initial 10 million homes in January 2001, and has been one of the fastest growing networks in history. The Channel has carriage with all of the nation's major cable and satellite television providers, making it currently available to 55 million homes. For more information, please visit www.nationalgeographic.com/channel. MEDIA CONTACTS: Russell Howard, National Geographic Channel, 202-912-6652,
RHoward@natgeochannel.com
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