Coroner: CdM man died of fall injury

The Orange County coroner has ruled the death of a 27-year-old Corona del Mar man, who died after collapsing outside a Newport Beach nightclub, resulted from an accidental fall.

There are conflicting eyewitness accounts of the night that Clinton “C.J.” Hubbard collapsed outside the Code nightclub and bar shortly before 2 a.m. Nov. 26.

One witness told police that Hubbard was punched in the head after confronting a man who was arguing with a woman outside the restaurant. Another said Hubbard simply collapsed. He was bleeding from his eyes, nose and mouth and had a heart beat, but wasn’t breathing when paramedics arrived on the scene.

Hubbard died at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana the next day after his family took him off life support.

An autopsy report released this week found that Hubbard died of a traumatic head injury, which caused bleeding around the brain. Hubbard’s blood-alcohol level at the time of his death was 0.14%, according to a toxicology report.

— Brianna Bailey