Texting While Driving Likely Caused Celeb Surgeon's Crash

Dr. Frank Ryan, plastic surgeon to the stars, was texting while driving just before he went over a cliff in Malibu and died, his ex-girlfriend tells People. Ryan, who performed surgery on Heidi Montag among others, reportedly went over the side around 4:30pm. Shortly before that, he tweeted a message about having just hiked a sand dune in Malibu. His last tweet was a picture of his dog on top of the dune.

Ryan’s ex-girlfriend says investigators told Ryan’s family that his tweeting caused the crash, but CHP will only confirm that the doctor was texting before he went over the side—and “it is one of the elements that we are investigating” as a cause of the accident. Jill, the border collie in the picture, was in the car with Ryan but survived the crash, TMZ reports.