Anne Heche’s ‘horrific’ car crash: Eyewitness shares terrifying details from fiery incident
A witness shares with Fox News Digital details of actress Anne Heche’s car crash, calling it ‘really horrific.’
Anne Heche was not impaired by drugs at the time of the car crash that took her life and burned down a California home.
Heche's autopsy report from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner was obtained Tuesday by Fox News Digital. The report showed that the 53-year-old actress had previously used cocaine and marijuana, but was not impaired at the time of the crash.
"The toxicology tested from the hospital admission blood showed the presence of benzoylecgonine, an inactive metabolite of cocaine," the coroner's Public Information Officer Sarah Ardalani explained to Fox News Digital. "Therefore, there was no evidence of impairment by illicit substances at the time of the crash."
"The urine toxicology results detected medications given to her after being treated in the hospital (including fentanyl) and prior use of marijuana, but not at the time of injury."
ANNE HECHE ESTATE FACES LAWSUIT FILED BY WOMAN LIVING IN THE LA HOME DESTROYED BY FIERY CAR CRASH
Anne Heche was not impaired by drugs at the time of her fiery car crash in August, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's office. (Axelle/Bauer-Griffin)
Heche's immediate cause of death was listed as "inhalation and thermal injuries." A "sternal fracture due to blunt trauma" was listed as a contributing cause, according to the report.
The "Donnie Brasco" actress was transported to the hospital following the collision on Aug. 5, and died one week later. Her manner of death was listed as an accident in a previous report released by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner.
Heche crashed her vehicle into a private residence at a high rate of speed. The structure and car caught fire after the collision. Heche was trapped inside the vehicle for roughly 30 minutes before she was extricated, according to first responders.
She was taken to UCLA Ronald Reagan Emergency Room and treated for second and third degree burns before Heche was pronounced brain-dead on Aug. 11.
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She suffered a "severe anoxic brain injury" and remained "in a coma" under medical care at the Grossman Burn Center in West Hills for the opportunity to donate her organs through the OneLegacy Foundation.
The actress' inhalation injuries caused the lack of oxygen that led to her anoxic brain injury. The report stated that anoxic brain injury does not occur after physical trauma, but "is an injury due to the lack of oxygen."
Heche was taken off life support Aug. 14.
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Anne Heche's estate was hit with a lawsuit filed by Lynne Mishele, the woman who lived in the home destroyed in the fiery car wreck caused by Heche's vehicle. (Dimitrios Kambouris)
Heche found small screen success on soap operas in the 1980s, and portrayed twins on "Another World," which earned her a Daytime Emmy Award and two Soap Opera Digest Awards.
She rose to fame on the silver screen in the late ‘90s for her starring roles alongside Johnny Depp in "Donnie Brasco," with Harrison Ford in "Six Days, Seven Nights," and in Gus Van Sant’s remake of "Psycho."
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