Beverly Hills police planned to respond today to citizen complaints concerning the alleged reckless operation of two sports cars on city streets and the claim by one driver that he had diplomatic immunity — an issue that could cause a diplomatic flap.
The no-injury incident in question took place about 6:45 p.m. Saturday in the 700 block of North Walden Drive, Beverly Hills police Lt. Lincoln Hoshino said. The department’s response to the ensuing complaints will come in a news conference set for 10 a.m.
BH police officers went to the scene and heard from several residents who complained about “reckless driving” involving two high-end vehicles, a yellow Ferrari and white Porsche, which at the time were parked in the driveway of a home on that block of Walden Drive, he said.
The residents told officers the cars were being driven recklessly at high speed and went through stop signs without stopping, Hoshino said. The officers didn’t see witness any violations as they heard the complaints, so they couldn’t take action, he said.
While officers were investigating the scene, a man approached them and said the cars belonged to him. But he “denied driving at a high rate of speed, running stop signs or driving recklessly,” Hoshino said.
But videos posted on Instagram and YouTube and reviewed by Beverly Hills police showed the 12-cylinder Ferrari burning rubber as it roared down North Walden Drive, followed by the Porsche 911 GT3, the Los Angeles Times reported. The video did not show who was behind the wheels of either car, and no witnesses stepped forward to positively identify the drivers.
The individual who said he owned the cars told police he is a foreign national with diplomatic immunity. According to multiple media reports, the man is from Qatar.
Hoshino said Beverly Hills police have contacted the U.S. State Department to determine the validity of the man’s statement that he has diplomatic immunity. The Beverly Hills Police Department has “zero tolerance” for driving that recklessly endangers public safety, he said.
The issue has begun percolating inside the City Council, one of whose members had a different take than Hoshino on why the State Department was being contacted.
“…The police department is working with their counterparts at the U.S. State Department to contact the Qatari Consulate to convey the City’s outrage at the incident,” said Councilwoman Lili Boss in a statement.
“Regardless of the diplomatic status of the drivers, the Beverly Hills Police Department will stop and take necessary enforcement action against anyone caught driving recklessly,” she added without specifically addressing the issue of diplomatic immunity.
The city’s Human Relations Commission was set to hold a scheduled meeting at 9 a.m. Commission Chair Ori S. Blumenfeld said he would ask the BHPD “what is being done to deal with this.”
