Man who died after crash on Laguna Canyon Road is identified as poetry teacher for UC Irvine academy
A 70-year-old Laguna Beach man who died this week after his vehicle crashed on Laguna Canyon Road was identified Thursday as John Gardiner, a poet who taught Shakespeare and poetry for the Gifted Students Academy at UC Irvine.
Gardiner died of natural causes unrelated to the crash, according to the Orange County coroner’s office.
Laguna Beach police received a call at 8:33 a.m. Tuesday from a driver who noticed a car was weaving at normal speeds while traveling south on Laguna Canyon Road near El Toro Road. Witnesses told police that the car crashed on the side of the road, said police Sgt. Jim Cota.
When witnesses went to check on the driver, they noticed he was unresponsive, so they pulled him from the vehicle and performed CPR until police and paramedics arrived, Cota said.
Gardiner was taken to Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills, where he was pronounced dead at 9:13 a.m.
The Gifted Students Academy at UCI is a summer program for academically advanced elementary, middle and high school students, according to the university’s website.
Twitter: @HannahFryTCN
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