Thaddeus Kalinoski was one of the last people to see “Jackass” star Ryan Dunn alive.
Kalinoski, an acquaintance of the 34-year-old movie and reality show star, spent time with Dunn Sunday night at Barnaby’s in West Chester before Dunn died in a car crash. Kalinoski snapped photos of he and Dunn drinking with friends.
Not long after, Dunn died in a fiery crash when the Porsche he was driving went over a guardrail and burst into flames in West Goshen, Pa. A passenger in Dunn’s car, Zachary Hartwell of West Chester, also died.
Chester County Coroner's Office announced Tuesday that the cause of death for both Dunn and Hartwell was "blunt and thermal trauma due to a motor vehicle accident and that the nature of the deaths was accidental." A toxicology report is not due back for a few weeks.
"My phone started ringing. People thought that I was in the accident. They said, 'Are you OK? Are you OK?'" Kalinoski told NBC Philadelphia. “A few friends of mine really didn’t believe it happened.”
Dunn appeared on MTV shows “Jackass” and “Viva La Bam” and the three “Jackass” big-screen adaptations. He also was the star of his own MTV show, “Homewrecker,” and hosted “Proving Ground” on the G4 cable network.
Dunn’s passenger, 30-year-old Hartwell, worked as a production assistant on the movie "Jackass Number Two" and starred in Bam Margera's movie "Minghags."
As for Kalinoski, he says that Dunn will never be forgotten.
“He’ll be completely missed and we love him,” Kalinoski sobbed.
