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'Pulp Fiction' screenwriter Avary arrested after fatal Ojai crash
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More from Other NewsAcademy Award-winning screenwriter Roger Avary was arrested Sunday on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and felony drunken driving after a car accident in the Ojai area in which another man was killed and Avary's wife was injured.
Ventura County Sheriff's Department officials said Avary, 42, of Ojai, who won an Oscar for the 1994 film "Pulp Fiction," was the driver in the single-car collision that occurred about 12:30 a.m. on the east side of town.
Sheriff's Capt. Ross Bonfiglio said the sedan was traveling eastbound on Ojai Avenue, east of Boardman Road, when it went out of control at a point where the road makes a sweeping right turn.
The vehicle slid into a telephone pole in front of the Ojai Lumber Co., striking the car on the side in which passenger Andreas Zini, 34, was riding, Bonfiglio said.
Zini was transported to Ventura County Medical Center, where he died on the operating table shortly before 7 a.m., apparently from internal injuries, Senior Deputy Medical Examiner Craig Stevens said. An autopsy is scheduled today.
Zini was a resident of Italy who was apparently visiting the Avarys in Ojai, coroner's officials said.
Avary's wife, Gretchen Avary, 40, was ejected from the car and found in the roadway by deputies. She was transported to Ojai Valley Community Hospital, where she was listed in stable condition Sunday.
Sheriff's deputies booked Avary into Ventura County Jail; he was later released on $50,000 bail.
Attempts to reach Avary were unsuccessful. An attorney for the filmmaker declined comment.
Avary has a hearing set in Ventura County Superior Court on Friday.
Along with his work on "Pulp Fiction," which he co-wrote with the film's director, Quentin Tarantino, Avary was co-writer and executive producer of the 2007 release "Beowulf."
He also wrote and directed the 2002 film "The Rules of Attraction" and wrote the 2006 horror film "Silent Hill."
Posted by GWAR on January 13, 2008 at 5:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I hope the cuts the governor made will not affect his imprisonment.
Posted by george1234 on January 13, 2008 at 6:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
with the judges in this county he won't get prison!
Posted by uknow1 on January 13, 2008 at 8:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)
What did he blow? If he was obviously drunk his passengers should have not allowed him to drive, or get into the car with him, unless they were drunk too... It is a perfectly straight road at the site of the crash. It is not an accident if he was drunk. It can be expected to happen.
Posted by Ambz on January 13, 2008 at 11:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
you would think he could afford a driver!
Posted by MrB398 on January 14, 2008 at 4:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Heh, I wonder if that will show up on his background check or if he'll cover that up like most well to do celebrities do. I looked up Martha Stewart at easybackgroundcheck.com recently and couldn't find jack because of that.
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