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Star Trek actor Anton Yelchin dies in freak car accident

June 19th, 2016  |  News

The acting world was shocked Sunday night to hear about the shocking death of Anton Yelchin, who famously portrays USS Enterprise’s young genius navigator in the new Star Trek movies.

Yelchin died after being struck by his own car in his driveway on his way to rehearsal. Coverage by Jalopnik identifies the vehicle as a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee, a vehicle that has been linked to 41 similar injuries before and recalled for a defective shifter system.

The vehicle, which Anton no doubt thought was in park, was left in neutral and rolled down his driveway and pinned him to his mailbox. The defect was covered in an April recall that affected 1.1 million vehicles worldwide.

The investigation has not confirmed whether the defect was to blame for the accident or if there was some other factor in play. All we know for sure is that many will mourn the loss of the young and talented actor. He will appear in the latest Star Trek movie, Star Trek Beyond in theatres on July 22, 2016.