Crime & Safety

Update: Coroner ID's Elderly Man Killed After Driving Into Wall

An 81-year-old man died Monday after veering off the roadway and driving into a retaining wall on West Coast Highway.

An 81-year-old Newport Beach man died Monday after crashing into a retaining wall, the Orange County coroner's office reported.

John Shattuck was fatally injured in a single-vehicle crash on Monday at about 8:50 a.m. on West Coast Highway, between Orange and Prospect streets, according to the coroner's report. An autopsy is scheduled to determine Shattuck's exact cause of death.

"Preliminary investigation indicates that a vehicle traveling eastbound on West Coast Highway veered off the roadway and collided with the wall on the south side of WCH," said Kathy Lowe, spokeswoman for the Newport Beach Police Department. "A witness reported seeing the elderly male driver of the vehicle slumped over the wheel of the vehicle just prior to the collision."

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Shattuck was pronounced dead at the scene.

The collision is under investigation.

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