Some Rich Jerks Claim Diplomatic Immunity In Beverly Hills Street Race

[Dedalus]

I agree with the above assessment. But to be in a position to care that little is what I can appreciate. Some people are just so rich that they don't even have to conform to these societal traits.

That sort of freedom is what I can appreciate. He's a prick, no less... but he has a level of freedom that most of us could only dream of.

You're right that these people are so rich, it is truly unbelievable. I know because I've met them. They can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars like it's pocket money. But it is truly a child's allowance in that it comes from their family being royalty in Qatar.

Qatar's GDP per capita is nearly double the US's: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)_per_capita

And it's also a lot smaller compared to the US. That is truly astounding.

But who are these people? Where do they get their money? Qatar is probably the definition of a petrostate, with 70% of total government revenue coming from petroleum and liquefied natural gas. It's more than 60% of its GDP. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Qatar

This is what Harper wanted to do to Canada, and though it sounds wonderful, it brings a lot of societal and political problems, in my opinion.

Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait are the three main players who fund ISIS.

For me, and maybe I'm exaggerating, but their personalities and behaviour are a microcosm, or at least representative of how when you become so filthy rich, it truly destroys you as a person. You become reckless, inconsiderate, you are a demigod. I've seen some race cars in Beverly Hills with references to their gods, appellations that they ascribe to themselves.

The "sort of freedom" you speak of is akin to the Ring of Gyges, the thought experiment Plato philosophised about to see if man, if he were invisible and thus need not suffer any consequences, would commit immoral acts. These men are close to wearing this allegorical ring. It kind of depresses me to think that Glaucon might have been right and morality is just a social construct.

I don't want that ring to exist, even if it brings me utter freedom, because though my will may be strong, I fear others are not.

[-DLC-]

I agree with the above assessment. But to be in a position to care that little is what I can appreciate. Some people are just so rich that they don't even have to conform to these societal traits.

That sort of freedom is what I can appreciate. He's a prick, no less... but he has a level of freedom that most of us could only dream of.

Being "rich" comes in many forms.

This guy is money rich. But freedom to be anything and chosing to be a prick simply means you're not making good use of your options. There are so many possibilities..to simply be a POS is a waste on so many levels. There's real value in being a responsible, kind, empathetic human being. Money can't buy that stuff and this guy's clearly in need.

There is real richness that comes from being a decent, caring, compassionate person. It's a deep down in your soul kind of rich and it leaves you feeling good.

[KFBR392]

I didn't see any smoke until the end. I don't think a scrape in the front tip of the body (or what people call bottoming out nowadays) is going to cause smoke all the way back in the engine. He obviously blew something along the way.

Yeah the bottoming out and the smoke are surely completely unrelated. But dude kept driving at the end with smoke pouring out like it was nothing. If I saw smoke billowing out of my toyota tercel I'd pull over... let alone a $3,000,000 laferarri.

All that being said, the whole neighborhood setup is strange. Why is there so many people standing around filming this stuff? It looks as if it was somewhat staged. Even the cars at the 4 way stop seemed to know what was going on. Despite what the article says, nobody around seems at all concerned with this activity. They should, but they're obviously not.

[Mr. Ambien]

Yeah the bottoming out and the smoke are surely completely unrelated. But dude kept driving at the end with smoke pouring out like it was nothing. If I saw smoke billowing out of my toyota tercel I'd pull over... let alone a $3,000,000 laferarri.

All that being said, the whole neighborhood setup is strange. Why is there so many people standing around filming this stuff? It looks as if it was somewhat staged. Even the cars at the 4 way stop seemed to know what was going on. Despite what the article says, nobody around seems at all concerned with this activity. They should, but they're obviously not.

People are literally in awe over this stuff. It's totally unsurprising to me. And it's the Hollywood area, so.. never pass up an opportunity to possibly extort a rich person, or get 5 seconds of fame when seeing your name get credit for a video when they show it on CNN.

But giving it a tad more thought, maybe it's neighbours using it as evidence to mount a civil suit. I mean, I'm sure these people are well liked in the neighbourhood.

[KFBR392]

Being "rich" comes in many forms.

This guy is money rich. But freedom to be anything and chosing to be a prick simply means you're not making good use of your options. There are so many possibilities..to simply be a POS is a waste on so many levels. There's real value in being a responsible, kind, empathetic human being. Money can't buy that stuff and this guy's clearly in need.

There is real richness that comes from being a decent, caring, compassionate person. It's a deep down in your soul kind of rich and it leaves you feeling good.

I suppose it's the ability to even have that choice is what's so fascinating to me. Whether you make the right choice or not, it doesn't really matter in terms of repercussions. You can buy your way out of most anything.

[KFBR392]

People are literally in awe over this stuff. It's totally unsurprising to me. And it's the Hollywood area, so.. never pass up an opportunity to possibly extort a rich person, or get 5 seconds of fame when seeing your name get credit for a video when they show it on CNN.

But giving it a tad more thought, maybe it's neighbours using it as evidence to mount a civil suit. I mean, I'm sure these people are well liked in the neighbourhood.

Yeah maybe it is a neighborhood revolt and everyone is gathering evidence to convict or extort him. Who knows. 'Murica.

[Dedalus]

Yeah the bottoming out and the smoke are surely completely unrelated. But dude kept driving at the end with smoke pouring out like it was nothing. If I saw smoke billowing out of my toyota tercel I'd pull over... let alone a $3,000,000 laferarri.

All that being said, the whole neighborhood setup is strange. Why is there so many people standing around filming this stuff? It looks as if it was somewhat staged. Even the cars at the 4 way stop seemed to know what was going on. Despite what the article says, nobody around seems at all concerned with this activity. They should, but they're obviously not.

Everyone is absolutely concerned. I think people were in awe and were trying to capture evidence.

What do you want them to do? Yell at them or use violence? They need to gather evidence then try to work something out. They didn't want to. So the police are now involved.

And, actually, it is now a federal case.

I don't know if you guys can watch the NBC 4 News video, because it's a US channel.

Here it is, let me know if you guys can't watch it:

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Exotic-Cars-Speeding-Through-Beverly-Hills-Focus-of-Police-Inquiry-327620261.html

[KFBR392]

Everyone is absolutely concerned. I think people were in awe and were trying to capture evidence.

What do you want them to do? Yell at them or use violence? They need to gather evidence then try to work something out. They didn't want to. So the police are now involved.

And, actually, it is now a federal case.

I don't know if you guys can watch the NBC 4 News video, because it's a US channel.

Here it is, let me know if you guys can't watch it:

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Exotic-Cars-Speeding-Through-Beverly-Hills-Focus-of-Police-Inquiry-327620261.html

Link didn't work.

To me it looked like a bunch of teenage car spotters, which is a pretty trendy thing to do nowadays since they all have youtube channels. You'd typically only see that many kids car spotting at some sort of pre planned event. An impromptu street race would be impossible to film to that extent.

Unless they were doing laps around the neighborhood all afternoon or something.

*edit.. link now works. Gives a bit more information on the time line I guess.

[Dedalus]

Link didn't work.

To me it looked like a bunch of teenage car spotters, which is a pretty trendy thing to do nowadays since they all have youtube channels. You'd typically only see that many kids car spotting at some sort of pre planned event. An impromptu street race would be impossible to film to that extent.

Unless they were doing laps around the neighborhood all afternoon or something.

Actually, this is common in Beverly Hills.

Last Sunday I heard them a few times, even after this video went viral.

Let me try to get a video that works in Canada.

Edit: Sorry, I couldn't find one. The video says that the driver lives in a $10-million house near the incident and pays $45,000 a month in rent. The police wanted to speak to him, but he refused stating he has "diplomatic immunity". That's why this is now a federal investigation. They interviewed Beverly Hills residents saying people were frightened.

You're right that it does look like car spotters filmed it. They were most likely forced to give up the evidence when complaints were filed against the driver and called for witnesses. The LaFerrari did scrape the Altima. And a little kid said he won't be riding his bicycle in the neighbourhood anymore.

The race actually started on Wilshire Blvd's 9600 block, "the heart of Beverly Hills". There was another witness who saw them stop and go.

The car is worth 5 million.

The video ends with the driver telling video-journalist Jacob Rogers from ANG News, to get the f**k out. The driver also told him "I could kill you and get away with it".

There was a Ferrari, Porsche, Bugatti, G-Wagen and Bentley parked at that residence, but they are no longer nowhere to be found and those drivers are long gone.

Jacob Rogers will be interviewed by the State Department tomorrow.

The rest of the story was outlined in my original post.

[Mr. Ambien]

Everyone is absolutely concerned. I think people were in awe and were trying to capture evidence.

What do you want them to do? Yell at them or use violence? They need to gather evidence then try to work something out. They didn't want to. So the police are now involved.

And, actually, it is now a federal case.

I don't know if you guys can watch the NBC 4 News video, because it's a US channel.

Here it is, let me know if you guys can't watch it:

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Exotic-Cars-Speeding-Through-Beverly-Hills-Focus-of-Police-Inquiry-327620261.html

In the video: (I'm using a US VPN)

"he said, verbatim, 'I could kill you and get away with it' "

"I told him we have free press in America and I'm allowed to film from the sidewalk, and he said f-America and threw a cigarette at me"

[Ghostsof1915]

With great horsepower comes great responsibility.

[SaintPatrick33]

Ferrari cant handle a rough day?

[Tre Mac]

It's like me in San Andreas rolling around in my Adder.

[SabreFan1]

Individual diplomatic immunity can be retroactively revoked by the country that the person represents. It happened in Canada once with a Japanese diplomat. Anybody want to guess in which city? Even with his immunity revoked, the Canadian court still didn't have the cajones to convict him of his crime, even though he had flat out admitted it, and the court dropped the charges against the then former diplomat.

[Dedalus]

Update: http://www.latimes.com/local/westside/la-me-beverly-hills-race-20150918-story.html

tl;dr: They know the car owner, Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad al Thani of Qatar's ruling family, but can't prove who was driving and nobody wants to identify him. I guess witnesses are scared after he threatened the photojournalist with death. Police said he has fled the US.

[Mr. Ambien]

Update: http://www.latimes.com/local/westside/la-me-beverly-hills-race-20150918-story.html

tl;dr: They know the car owner, Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad al Thani of Qatar's ruling family, but can't prove who was driving and nobody wants to identify him. I guess witnesses are scared after he threatened the photojournalist with death. Police said he has fled the US.

Good, get the frack out. Feel free to stay in Qatar, too.

[SabreFan1]

Update: http://www.latimes.com/local/westside/la-me-beverly-hills-race-20150918-story.html

tl;dr: They know the car owner, Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad al Thani of Qatar's ruling family, but can't prove who was driving and nobody wants to identify him. I guess witnesses are scared after he threatened the photojournalist with death. Police said he has fled the US.

This is the most important thing.

[Dittohead]

And these are the good muslims... lol

[RWMc1]

Where's Danny Glover when you need him.

Joking.

[MusclePharm]

Times like this when the people take justice into their own hands