Owner of sports cars seen speeding in Beverly Hills is Qatar national
The owner of two exotic sports cars seen on videos posted to social media speeding through narrow residential streets in Beverly Hills is a Qatar national who says he has diplomatic immunity, police said.
In videos posted on Instagram and YouTube, the 12-cylinder engine of a yellow Ferrari LaFerrari is heard letting out a roar as its tires squeal down North Walden Drive off Elevado Avenue, followed by a white Porsche 911 GT3.
The incident took place on Saturday night in the 700 block of North Walden Avenue, police said.
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When officers first arrived at the house at the center of the complaints – on the corner of Walden and Elevado Avenue, the cars were parked in the driveway, the cars’ owner denied any wrongdoing and no witnesses were willing to identify who the drivers were, said Beverly Hills police Lt. Lincoln Hoshino.
At one point in one of the social media videos, the LaFerrari weaves left around a car idling at a stop sign ahead of it and then goes through an intersection while people stand in the road and on the sidewalk, watching. Some appear to be recording the events on their cellphones.
Warning: The following video contains repeated uses of profanity.
Neighbors reported street racing to police, who showed up at the Walden Avenue/Elevado Avenue house to investigate. A man then approached officers and said he owned the cars, but he denied speeding, running a stop sign or driving recklessly, Hoshino said.
“That individual claimed to have diplomatic immunity,” he said.
But the video – which police viewed Sunday morning – doesn’t show who was driving, and officers couldn’t find any witnesses who were willing to identify the drivers or file a police report, Hoshino said.
"We can't put anyone behind the wheel," Hoshino said.
Beverly Hills police said they reached out to the State Department to check on the status of the cars’ owner. Authorities have also reached out to the consulate general of Qatar about the incident, Hoshino said.
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