The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will examine Bruce Jenner’s cell phone records to determine if he was illegally distracted during a deadly accident in Malibu over the weekend, but the former Olympian’s publicist says their findings will weigh in Jenner’s favor.
“The evidence will show that Bruce was not texting at the time of the accident,” Alan Nierob said in a statement to the media, while Jenner said in a separate statement that he plans to fully “cooperate” in the investigation.
“My heartfelt and deepest sympathies go out to the family and loved ones, and to all of those who were involved or injured in this terrible accident,” Jenner said in a statement to the media. “It is a devastating tragedy and I cannot pretend to imagine what this family is going through at this time. I am praying for them. I will continue to cooperate in every way possible.”
The multi-vehicle crash that claimed the life of an unidentified elderly woman, and injured seven others, occurred Saturday at 12:12 p.m. PT on the Pacific Coast Highway near Corral Canyon Road.
The Sheriff’s Department said the accident happened after a Toyota Prius slowed down or stopped on PCH for unknown reasons. The elderly woman was driving a white Lexus, which then struck the Prius. Jenner’s Cadillac Escalade, towing a trailer at the time, proceeded to rear-end the Lexus, and pushed it head-on into a Hummer.
The elderly woman in the Lexus was pronounced dead at the scene. Her name and age have not yet been released.
Jenner, a “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” star recently divorced from family matriarch Kris Jenner, was making headlines for reportedly beginning his transition from male to female before the accident.
He told the Sheriff’s Department he was being followed by paparazzi before the collision. An officer, however, told TheWrap that the celebrity photographers “were not a factor” in the crash and the investigation is ongoing.
The Sheriff’s Department declined to comment on what charges might possibly be filed against anyone who was determined to be texting and driving, which is illegal in California.