Qatar diplomat street racing in Beverly Hills

CBS2

A Beverly Hills street race between pricey luxury cars is continuing to rev up controversy.
CBS2’s Cristy Fajardo said the race is also causing outrage among residents.
The drivers blew through stop signs and sped through residential streets Monday.

Monday evening police received a call about street racing through residential streets in Beverly Hills, CA. Video was taken of this incident by a bystander. It appears a Ferrari and and Porsche were racing, doing probably 80 and a 25 MPH zone. Not only that, they were blowing through stop signs. Very dangerous driving, more so in a residential area where kids play and people are trying to back out of their driveways.

Video was shot of the Ferrari pulling into a driveway breaking down. The idiot driving probably burnt out the clutch or something. When Police investigated, a man told them he owned the cars but would not take responsibility for the street racing. Indeed, he even told them he has Diplomatic Immunity. So it turns out this guy is a diplomat from Qatar. I don't like the idea of having foreigners here that can flout the local laws. Whoever was driving, was putting other people's lives at risk. That shouldn't fly in my opinion.

Beverly Hills police say since the videos don’t show who’s driving, they don’t know if diplomatic immunity applies. But they add it’s a moot point as an officer wasn’t there to witness the race.
CBS2/KCAL9 legal expert Steve Meister concurs.
“If police deem these crimes misdemeanors, then either the officers had to have witnessed the crimes themselves or the neighbors who witnessed the crimes have to be willing to place the suspects under citizen’s arrest,” Meister said.

It sounds as though local PD would like to prosecute people like this even though they don't have a leg to stand on in this case. The drivers of the cars were not videotaped so you can not make out who was breaking the law. Plus if it turns out the drivers were diplomats, they cannot be prosecuted because of their immunity.

I have not heard of the analysis by CBS legal expert Steve Meister. So for a misdemeanor the officer has to witness it himself or you have to citizen arrest him yourself? I thought police frowned on that sort of thing in this day and age. The owner of the vehicles was approached by a journalist and had his life threatened. I imagine trying to citizen arrest this sort fellow could get bloody. I wonder if that would be the case if the videotape had clear frames of the suspect. Would the police still need to see it first hand at the time of the occurrence? They should have at least impounded those vehicles as it is pretty clear they were the vehicles used in reckless driving.

In particular, New York City, the home of the United Nations Headquarters, regularly protests to the United States Department of State about non-payment of parking tickets because of diplomatic status. As of 2001, the city had more than 200,000 outstanding parking tickets from diplomats, totaling more than $21.3 million, of which only $160,682 had been collected.[23] In 1997, then-mayor Rudy Giuliani proposed to the Clinton administration that the U.S. State Department revoke the special DPL plates for diplomats who ignore parking summonses; the State Department denied Giuliani's request.

Wiki

It seems Diplomatic Immunity grants the privileged people all sorts of breaks. Parking violations going unpaid. The city can't collect their money. State Department ignores the Mayor's pleas. I just think it stinks. In this case, someone could have ended up dead.

So called Muslims. Instead of helping those poor Syrians, this is what they're doing instead.

Sounds like someone needs to do a big lebowski scene on some of these vehicles. I have a Nice fast car but cannot stand douchebag drivers, especially in a residential area with kids.

Diplomatic immunity can be very uncomfortable to see in action...

In this case, however, it may not apply... He's a consulate official, not a member of the diplomatic team. The embassy is in DC, not Los Angeles.

Im munity? Maybe not.

I would think the video would be enough to at least ticket them. So now if a cop isn't there you can get away with whatever even if a video shows you doing it....nice.

a reply to: seagull

Well hey look at that. Good find. I was just going by what the news were saying. I can understand immunity in the duties of their job, but not this crap.

But its ok for red light cameras to exist?

They take pictures of the car, but not the driver and yet you have to pay the fine without due process.

That's what I call extortion.

a reply to: harvestdog

I really hope they teach him a lesson invoke his immunity, now.

a reply to: Hyperia

Me too. One thing that really chaps my ass in reckless driving. It's even worse in neighborhoods. I hope he gets kicked out of our country, since he doesn't abide by our rules and thinks he can do whatever he wants.

a reply to: galaga

Great point. I can't believe a cop has to be present and witness it or it is the duty of bystanders to perform a citizen's arrest. I seriously thought cops frowned on that and we should just call them.

Eh. We are wasting energy on something that happens regularly. I think people are just in an uproar because they are Muslim. I own an automotive business, and believe it or not, people of ALL skin colors and religions street race on a regular basis. I do agree though, that they shouldn't be doing it in a residential area.

a reply to: alishainwonderland

Yeah it is dangerous in a residential area. That is why people are in an uproar. The only person I have seen bring up the issues of him being a Muslim is you. The aspect of Qatar being mentioned, is because the media was saying he was untouchable because of Diplomatic Immunity. Nice spin though.