Videotape may shed new light on $1 million Ferrari crash

By: North County Times wire services | Thursday, March 16, 2006 5:11 PM PST ∞

MALIBU -- A videotape apparently shot from inside the rare $1 million Ferrari that crashed in Malibu last month may shed new light on who was actually driving the speeding sports car, it was reported Thursday.

Sources speaking on the condition of anonymity told the Los Angeles Times that Ferrari owner Stefan Eriksson and the other man in the car, Trevor Karney, had a video camera rolling before they crashed on Feb. 21 while racing the Ferrari Enzo along Pacific Coast Highway at speeds in excess of 162 mph.

Although Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies did not recover any video equipment from the scene, sources told the newspaper that detectives were later told the high-speed crash was taped.

Eriksson told deputies at the scene that a man he knew only as "Dietrich" was driving the Ferrari and fled after the crash -- a claim that reportedly has left detectives highly skeptical.

The Times reported that detectives took a saliva sample from Eriksson to compare his DNA to blood found on the driver's side air bag.

If deputies determine he was driving, Eriksson, who had a blood-alcohol level of .09 percent after the crash, could face several charges, including reckless driving, driving while intoxicated and lying to investigators, The Times reported. The legal limit is .08 percent.

Eriksson was an executive at a European video game manufacturer but left the company, which later went bankrupt, last fall after a Swedish newspaper printed allegations of his involvement in a counterfeiting operation.

Sheriff's Sgt. Phil Brooks told The Times that Swedish police have informed sheriff's investigators that Eriksson served five years in prison in the early 1990s for a counterfeiting-related crime.

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