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Actress Anne Heche has fallen into a coma and remains in “extremely critical condition” days after she crashed her car into a Los Angeles home, causing both to burst into flames, a representative told the media on Monday. communication
“He has a significant lung injury that requires mechanical ventilation and burns that require surgical intervention,” Michael McConnell, Heche’s representative, told Reuters and other media outlets. “He is in a coma and has not regained consciousness since shortly after the accident.”
Around 10:55 a.m. Friday, a car crashed into a house in the Mar Vista neighborhood, causing a “heavy fire,” the Los Angeles Fire Department said. Heche, 53, was pulled from the car, a Mini Cooper, and taken to a hospital.
It took 59 firefighters and 65 minutes to extinguish the fire, which caused significant damage, according to fire officials.
A woman was inside the home during the crash, but was not injured, CNN reported. A GoFundMe campaign has been set up for the woman, who “lost a lifetime of possessions,” according to the fundraiser’s statement.
The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating the circumstances of the crash, including the possibility that Heche may have been driving under the influence, Officer Norma Eisenman, a spokeswoman, confirmed to The Washington Post. Eisenman said a warrant was obtained for the actress’ blood on the day of the incident. As of early Tuesday, Heche had not been charged with a crime.
Heche’s representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Post.
Heche’s acting career began after appearing in the soap opera “Another World” starting in the 1980s, and she later starred in films such as “Donnie Brasco” and “Six Days Seven Nights “. He dated Ellen DeGeneres for 3 1/2 years starting in the late 1990s, in a relationship that attracted intense public attention.
Shortly before Friday’s crash, around 10:35 a.m., Heche bought a wig at a salon in Venice, salon owner Richard Glass told the Los Angeles Times, adding that he was good humor and did not appear to be intoxicated. . He posted a photo on Instagram with a smiling Heche.
TMZ reported that Heche crashed his vehicle into the garage of an apartment building that same morning. The media outlet obtained video it says shows her dismounting after the collision, although the footage is not time-stamped.
Surveillance footage from 10:53 a.m. that day, obtained by CBSLA and TMZ, shows Heche’s blue Mini Cooper speeding through Mar Vista just before crashing into the home, according to outlets.
David Manpearl, a neighbor of the destroyed home, told the Times he was at his desk Friday morning when he saw a car speed past his window. He heard a shock moments later. Manpearl ran out of her house and down the street, where she saw a car had driven through the front of her neighbor’s house and was embedded in the back wall, she told the Times. Upon entering, he saw a barefoot occupant in the middle of his kitchen, asking for help with his pets, he told the newspaper.
“She couldn’t move because the roof had fallen in, so there was all kinds of debris everywhere,” Manpearl said, adding that she helped the occupant of the home to safety and went try to help Heche.
“It got to a point where there was fire everywhere. It was all around us,” Manpearl told the Times. “It had spread from the car to the house and the smoke was getting thick. I kept waiting for the fire department to come, but they still hadn’t arrived, and I finally had to leave the house for my own safety.”
Heche was transported to the hospital with serious injuries, and CBSLA reported that the mangled blue Mini Cooper was later removed from the home.