New details revealed in deadly golf cart accident involving John Elway
DENVER, Colo. (KRDO) – A California coroner's office has officially ruled that the death of Jeff Sperbeck, lifelong friend and business partner of former Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway, was an accident.
Sperbeck died after falling off a golf cart driven by Elway on April 26. The two were in La Quinta, California, where Elway owns a home.
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According to a statement released by the Riverside County Coroner's Bureau on May 9, Sperbeck's cause of death is officially listed as "blunt head trauma," and the manner of death has been ruled an accident. The mode of death, or how the injury happened, was documented as "passenger fell from golf cart."
Our Denver affiliates at 9NEWS spent the week after his death speaking with sources with intimate knowledge of the incident to learn more.
According to 9NEWS, Elway was driving the single-bench cart with Sperbeck stood in the back of the cart at the time of the accident. The two were accompanied by Elway's girlfriend, Sperbeck's wife and American TV personality Johnny Devenanzio, known also by his stage name Johnny Bananas.
The five were riding the golf cart up a quarter-mile to Elway's home at the private golf resort community when Sperbeck fell off, 9NEWS reports.
Sources tell 9NEWS there was no horseplay involved, the cart didn't hit anything, and alcohol was not a factor in his fall.
Elway was the first to call 911, and Sperbeck was rushed to a local hospital with a brain injury. Soon after, he was placed on life support to allow doctors to remove his organs for donation.
The Riverside County Sheriff's Office said its investigation is still ongoing, but in the days following the accident the office wrote on social media: “There is nothing to indicate that this is anything more than a tragic accident."
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