Apr 4, 2008 4:49 pm US/Pacific
Former LA News Anchor-Reporter Dies In Crash
LOS ANGELES
A man killed in a single-car freeway crash near the Santa Barbara County line on Tuesday was identified Thursday as former Los Angeles television and radio reporter Will Spens, a former colleague said.
Spens had been discharged from the cardiac care unit at Cottage Hospital
in Santa Barbara, where he was treated for a heart problem, the day before his death at age 57, according to veteran investigative producer Pete Noyes.
Spens apparently crashed his vehicle into a bridge abutment on the entura (101) Freeway near Bates Road. The Ventura County coroner's office, which did an autopsy, said his death was probably accidental and due to blunt force trauma, according to Noyes.
The Medical Examiner's office said Spens was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash.
Spens was a television reporter on the East Coast for many years, working for both WABC and WNBC in New York City.
In the early 1990s, he worked for KNBC in Burbank, KCBS in Hollywood and KNX Newsradio.
Several reports said Spens struggled for years and after leaving the news business at one time was homeless.
Noyes was managing editor of KNBC when he hired Spens, whom he described as a "fearless reporter" who would not hesitate to risk his life covering shootouts and gang warfare.
Spens moved to Santa Barbara about 10 years ago to study contemplative relations and, at one time, was cloistered as a monk, according to Noyes. Spens was also briefly married twice.
Spens is survived by a sister on the East Coast, who will make funeral
arrangements.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
