Destroyed Enzo in Malibu

[RickM]

This crash was the proverbial pull on the Pinata string.
Or would pull on my finger be more appropriate?

[Craig 930 RS]

Sounds like a great guy. Pssh.

[Jack Olsen]

This story has more twists than the PCH:

Rare Ferrari Crash Driver Arrested For Car's Theft

LOS ANGELES After a lengthy investigation, there's been an arrest in the February crash of an exotic $1 million Ferrari in Malibu. Stefan Eriksson was served a search warrant at his Bel Air home Saturday night and booked on suspicion of grand theft.

It wasn't immediately clear whether sheriff's investigators suspect Eriksson stole the Ferrari.

The 44-year-old Swedish video game entrepreneur is being held without bail and authorities have also placed an immigration hold on him.

Eriksson was in a red Ferrari Enzo that was traveling over 160 miles an hour when it hit a pole along Pacific Coast Highway and all but disintegrated. He escaped the crash with only a cut lip.

Eriksson originally told authorities he was a passenger in the car and that the driver, a German acquaintance he knew only as Dietrich, ran into the nearby hills after the crash. Dietrich was never found.

[dd74]

Betcha' Kalo has some answers...

[Craig 930 RS]

Grand theft of the Ferrari......or of another item?

[Emission]

Autoweek has been following this story in their "But Wait, There's More" column in the back of their magazine... they are going to eat this up - especially after just reporting Stephan's repo of his SLR.

[Jim Garfield]

Jack, I'm thinking that researching this character Eriksson's activities for the last 5 or 6 years would make a terrific movie plot.

[pwd72s]

Originally posted by Jim Garfield
Jack, I'm thinking that researching this character Eriksson's activities for the last 5 or 6 years would make a terrific movie plot.

Jack's probably way ahead of you.

[dd74]

Potential titles:

"Revenge of The Eurotrash"

"Dietrich and I"

"Speeding (and Crashing) In America"

"The Million Dollar Malibu Munch"

"One Damn Hard Pole"

"From Sweden With Love"

[Mulhollanddose]

"I stuck it to the man...a Swedish liberal's journey."

[dd74]

Originally posted by Mulhollanddose
"I stuck it to the man...a Swedish liberal's journey."

I think we're talking about cinematic features, Mul, not gay internet porn.

[Mulhollanddose]

lol...good one...it is a first for you...

[RoninLB]

He should not have hit his brakes when he became air borne due to the road imperfections. From that point it was a done deal.

[RickM]

This just in:



"Destroyed Ferrari's Driver Arrested For Theft"

http://cbs2.com/local/local_story_099022511.html

(CBS) LOS ANGELES After a lengthy investigation, there's been an arrest in the February crash of an exotic $1 million Ferrari in Malibu. Stefan Eriksson was served a search warrant at his Bel Air home Saturday night and booked on suspicion of grand theft.

It wasn't immediately clear whether sheriff's investigators suspect Eriksson stole the Ferrari.

The 44-year-old Swedish video game entrepreneur is being held without bail and authorities have also placed an immigration hold on him.

Eriksson was in a red Ferrari Enzo that was traveling over 160 miles an hour when it hit a pole along Pacific Coast Highway and all but disintegrated. He escaped the crash with only a cut lip.

Eriksson originally told authorities he was a passenger in the car and that the driver, a German acquaintance he knew only as Dietrich, ran into the nearby hills after the crash. Dietrich was never found."

More pics and video on linked site...

[Craig 930 RS]

"It wasn't immediately clear whether sheriff's investigators suspect Eriksson stole the Ferrari. "

That's what I brought up a few posts ago.....
Theft of the car or what?

[RickM]

If you watch the video they say it's for the car. There's also a Mercedes they suspect he stole.

[Emission]

Apparently, he hadn't been making the payments recently on his cars.

The police also won't disclose the results of the DNA testing they did on the airbag with the blood spot.

[juanbenae]

i read an article about this whole thing in a bay area paper yesterday. dude had many irons in the fire and seemed to be dirty on all fronts.

[Jack Olsen]

Here's some more, from a local NBC affiliate:

Crashed Ferrari Occupant Suspected Of Stealing Car
Swedish Businessman Arrested At Bel Air Home

LOS ANGELES -- A Swede believed to have walked away from a crash that destroyed a $1 million Ferrari Enzo in Malibu earlier this year was arrested Sunday on suspicion of stealing the vehicle and two other exotic cars.

Stefan Eriksson, 44, was arrested at his Bel Air home in the 2300 block of Worthing Lane after detectives served a search warrant, said Sgt. Don Manumaleuna of the Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau.

Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore told The Los Angeles Times that during the search, detectives seized a black Ferrari Enzo worth more than $1 million.

Two weeks ago, Los Angeles police seized a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, a $600,000 car that was reported stolen to London's Scotland Yard. It was being driven by Eriksson's wife, who was stopped in Beverly Hills on suspicion of driving without a license.

"This is the beginning of the investigation," Whitmore told The Times. "All three cars have now been confiscated."

The cars were part of Eriksson's $3.5 million exotic car collection, The Times reported.

Eriksson was formerly an executive with Gizmondo Europe, a company that made video game players, but he was forced out after colleagues learned he had a conviction for fraud in Sweden. The company filed for bankruptcy earlier this year.

Swedish authorities have told the sheriff's department that Eriksson served a prison term in the early 1990s for counterfeiting.

Eriksson is believed to have brought the three cars into this country from Britain, where he lived last year. The cars were leased to Gizmondo, and British financial institutions are claiming them because payments have lapsed.

Eriksson was booked on suspicion of grand theft auto and is being held without bail, Manumaleuna said, adding an immigration hold was placed on him.

After the Feb. 21 crash on Pacific Coast Highway near Decker Road, Eriksson told sheriff's deputies that he wasn't driving. He said a German named Dietrich was behind the wheel and ran from the scene of crash, which separated the Ferrari's 12-cylinder, 660-horsepower engine from its frame.

Authorities believe the car -- one of only 400 Enzos ever built -- was going 162 mph when it smashed into a power pole, and they have expressed doubt about Eriksson's account of how the accident occurred.

Eriksson's blood-alcohol level at the time showed him to be above the legal limit for driving in California, so he could face drunken-driving charges if determined to have been the driver.

Ferrari aficionados are reportedly hopeful the episode might finally be over.

"The Ferrari community is very upstanding and a very serious group of people," Gil Lucero, Pacific region president of the Ferrari Club of America, told The Los Angeles Times. "It's unfortunate that folks with more money than sense get into these things."

My guess is he didn't 'steal' them, in the conventional sense, but (like Emissions says) he simply bought them and then stopped making payments.

[arcsine]

I had heard made the down payment on the black Enzo with a fraudulent check.