Police investigating plastic surgeon's fatal crash

[August 19, 2010]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- California Highway Patrol officers say they're investigating whether texting or tweeting may have been a factor in celebrity plastic surgeon Dr. Frank Ryan's fatal crash.

Ryan's last post on Twitter, a photo of his border collie, Jill, was posted at 3:10 p.m. Officer Steve Reid says the crash was first reported at 4:34 p.m. by a motorist who witnessed the accident.

Reid says detectives are "looking into several factors, including texting and Twittering that may have played a role in the accident."

A spokesman for Twitter says the time stamps on tweets reflect the time zone in which the account was created.

The dog was injured in the crash and taken to an animal hospital.

[Associated Press; By SANDY COHEN]

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