Man Who Died After Crash Apparently Had Heart Attack

NEWPORT BEACH — A Santa Ana man died after he apparently suffered a heart attack and the truck he was driving slammed into the side of an office building, police said Monday.

Jerry Joe Worthy, 54, was taken to Irvine Medical Center and pronounced dead shortly after the 10 a.m. accident, Police Sgt. Andy Gonis said.

Worthy was driving west on Quail Street when he turned left abruptly in front of an oncoming car, narrowly missing it. Worthy’s 1987 Ford Ranger then hit a back door of Swan Printing, part of an industrial complex on Birch Street.

The unidentified driver of the car, who was not injured, stopped and got out to help. He found Worthy slumped over the steering wheel, police said.

A Newport Beach police detective, who was in the area on another case, went to the accident scene after hearing about the crash on his radio. Detective Mike Pule tried to revive Worthy using cardiopulmonary resuscitation before paramedics arrived, Gonis said.

Rob Ranier, who works near Swan Printing, said he heard a “big bang” at the time of the crash. Ranier went out to the Ranger and “when I found (Worthy) he was bent over the seat shaking,” he said.

The Orange County coroner was scheduled to perform an autopsy on Worthy today, a spokesman said.