Officials identified a New York City photographer as the passenger killed Sunday in a crash involving Salma Hayek’s brother.
Ian Cuttler-Sala, 43, lived on Lexington Avenue on the Upper East Side, said the Los Angeles County coroner’s office, which was scheduled to begin his autopsy Tuesday afternoon. Meanwhile, condolences poured in to Cuttler-Sala’s Facebook page from his native Mexico, where his parents still live.
“We’re going to miss you,” wrote one cousin in Mexico City. “You deserve to be at the very top of heaven.”
Around 5 p.m. Sunday, Sami Hayek, 40, was cruising east on Sunset Boulevard in his 2006 Ford GT when he swerved into the path of a Toyota Tacoma, the Los Angeles Police Department said. Pictures from the scene showed the crumpled car pinned between the pickup truck and a hillside.
Cuttler-Sala was pronounced dead on arrival, and Hayek was hospitalized with broken ribs and a cut on his head.
Hayek “was in violation of driving on the wrong side of the roadway, possibly due to speed,” LAPD spokeswoman Rosario Herrera said. She said Hayek hasn’t been arrested.
According to his website, Cuttler-Sala had been working as a photographer following a successful career as an art director at Sony Music NY. In nine years there, he worked with Beyonce, Ricky Martin and Billy Joel and won a Grammy for his design on the box set “Johnny Cash: The Legend.”
Cuttler-Sala had lived in New York since 1996, his website says.
