Even to the wealthy denizens of Beverly Hills, the sight of a rare supercar with a seven-figure price tag speeding through their quiet neighbourhood came as a shock.
The bright yellow Ferrari LaFerrari was caught on video careening at high speed along leafy residential streets last weekend, as stunned pedestrians watched it race against a Porsche 911 GT3, slowing only when its engine began to smoke.
The car’s owner was later identified as 29-year-old Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad al-Thani, a member of the ruling family of Qatar, who told police he was protected by diplomatic immunity – and then fled the US.
As witnesses filmed the impromptu drag race on their phones, video journalist Jacob Rogers asked one of the drivers why they were acting so irresponsibly. “He told me verbatim, ‘I could have you killed and get away with it,’” Rogers later told NBC News. “I told him, ‘The press is allowed to be here on the sidewalk on a public street.’ He said, ‘bleep America’ and threw a cigarette at me.”
By the time police were called to the scene, both cars were parked in the driveway of a $45,000-per-week (£29,000) rented home. Mr Thani reportedly told officers he owned the cars, but denied that anyone had been driving recklessly. Police were unable to determine who was behind the wheel in the video.
Only after consulting the US State Department and the Qatari consulate in Los Angeles did the authorities conclude that the sheikh’s claims of diplomatic immunity were false. As he named Mr Thani during a press conference on Thursday, the Beverly Hills Police Chief, Dominick Rivetti, insisted the city would enforce the law, no matter “who you are, who you know or where you are from.”
More plus video at link:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/qatari-sheikh-makes-speedy-exit-from-us-after-drag-racing-his-ferrari-through-the-streets-of-beverly-hills-10508583.html
