Enzo Crash - Update

[Chromas]

Just came across a comprehensive article on the Enzo that crashed earlier this year along PCH in Malibu

 

Full Coverage: Ferrari Enzo Crash in Malibu

AFTERMATH PHOTOS:

Special thanks to the guys at Borla and Scosche for the photos

[Chromas]

Summary::

A 2003 Ferrari Enzo crashed at 6:08 AM on February 21, 2006 in Malibu, California on the Pacific Coast Highway near Decker Canyon . In the first few hours after the crash, there was a lot of confusion as to who the driver was. Here are the facts so far - we will continue to update you on this story as it unfolds:

FACTS:

• The owner of the car is Stefan Erikssen, a 44 year old former executive of Gizmondo. He left Gizmondo after allegedly being involved in a Swedish Mafia crime ring.
• He only suffered a bloody lip in the accident
• He claimed that he was a passenger in the Enzo and that the person driving was a German guy named "Dietrich".
• He claimed that they were racing a Mercedes SLR
• Police estimate that he was travelling a minimum of 100 MPH and up to 200 MPH when the crash occurred.
• Stefan Erikssen was intoxicated at the time of the accident

OTHER INFO:

• A witness claimed that he saw the car go airborn due to excessive speed which is why the crash occurred in the first place.
• Police could not find the "driver", but they did find blood on the drivers side airbag. Police claim that only the driver side airbag deployed, however this photo seems to show that both airbags deployed.
• Police find the owner's story sketchy

[Chromas]

LATEST UPDATES: [*]Update: Feb 22 - 9:04 PM EST - Police are pursuing the theory that Eriksson spent Monday night and Tuesday morning drinking with friends at a Beverly Hills house when they decided to drive to Malibu to race the Enzo against a silver Mercedes SLR [*]Update: Feb 22 - 9:04 PM EST - The driver was convicted of fraud and counterfeiting in Sweden in 1993 and 1994. "It's all beginning to come together," says Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Philip Brooks. "Pretty soon, we'll have it all figured out." [*]Update: Feb 23 - 6:00 AM EST - Los Angeles Sheriff's Department Sgt. Philip Brooks told ABC News that he received a call from the Bank of Scotland claiming that the bank was in the process of repossessing the car and that Eriksson owns a second Ferrari Enzo with a questionable registration. [*]Update: Feb 23 - 3:00 PM EST - Detectives are becoming increasingly skeptical of the explanation given by Eriksson and will be re-interviewing him today. `His story has inconsistencies that need to be cleared up,'' said Sgt. Phillip Brooks. [*]The investigation has also centered on exactly how the Enzo got into the United States and how Ericksson came to possess it.

[*]Update: Feb 23 - 7:30 PM EST - It appears Mr Eriksson may have destroyed a car which didn't belong to him. Police said the car was the property of the Bank of Scotland and was in the process of being repossessed at the time of the crash. The word on the street is the Ferrari was obtained through fraudulent financing along with a Mercedes SLR. When the bank found out, Eriksson simply shipped the Ferrari to the United State. The car had a European registration and nothing had been done to make it street legal in California. [*]Police have calculated the official speed of impact at 162 MPH. [*]Update: Feb 24 - 7:30 PM EST - One of our eagle-eyed visitors pointed us to a video clip of Stefan Eriksson driving around Beverly Hills a couple of months before the crash. In the clip, he's driving his black Enzo, a pretty young girl hops out of the car after giving him a kiss, and he shows off by reving the engine a bit. The odd thing is that the car has a European license plate. It looks like the black Enzo wasn't properly registered either. (Credit: Video was filmed by Spyder Dobrofsky)

Click Here to View Video Clip

[*]Update: Feb 25 - 3:00 PM EST - Readers point out that the Ferrari had license plates indicating it was registered in Manchester, England in 2004. It turns out that one of Gizmondo's development studios is located in Manchester. It is likely the cars were registered to the company since it's more cost effective to title them as company cars so they can claim back a portion of tax on gas and operational costs.

[*]The driver of the Mercedes SLR which was apparently racing Mr. Eriksson may have been former European managing director of Gizmondo, Carl Freer, who is known to own a Mercedes SLR and is a good friend of Eriksson.

[*]Apparently, "Dietrich" may not be a completely made up person. The person who ran Gizmondo's German operation was a German fellow named Dietrich. [*]Update: Feb 27 - 7:30 PM EST - Police now believe a gun clip found near the accident scene may be linked to Mr. Eriksson. They also believe there was another passenger in the car when the crash occurred. They have called Mr. Eriksson in for another interview.

[Chromas]

Update: Feb 28 - 10:30 PM EST - New photos posted includes detailed shots of the engine and a photo showing both airbags deployed. Thanks goes out to Michael Frediani for being in the right place at the right time with a digital camera.

[Chromas]

WreckedExotics Exlusive:

Could this be Dietrich???

A WreckedExotics fan happened to see Stefan Erikssen at a restaurant in Beverly Hills one week before the crash. He had both Enzos parked out front along with a Mercedes SLR. According to the witness, he heard Erikssen call the man in the passenger seat "Dietrich".

In addition, here is a photo of Erikssen the same night helping a young girl (presumed to be his daughter) into the passenger seat of the Enzo that crashed a week later. (Hopefully the Enzo was driven safely when young children were inside)

[Chromas]

• Update: Mar 02 - 8:00 PM EST - The investigation took another bizarre turn today. Police are now looking for two men who claimed they were U.S. Homeland Security officers in order to enter the crash scene and speak with Erikssen for a few minutes. Erikssen earlier had told investigators that he was with Homeland Security also.
• In other news, Erikssen refused to be interviewed today by investigators even though he had agreed to be questioned just a couple of days ago. He did however give up a blood sample for testing.
• The police confirmed that the Mercedes SLR racing story was not true. They left the story circulating in newspapers to see how Erikssen would react.

• Update: Mar 02 - 9:00 PM EST - The police have reconstructed the crash using computer graphics. Viewers will be able to see exactly how the car impacted through bird's eye and driver's view. WreckedExotics will link to the video as soon as it's released.

• Update: Mar 03 - 12:00 PM EST - More details have emerged regarding the discovery of the loaded gun clip. It appears that there was another man standing around with Erikssen right after the crash. Erikssen told police that this man, who the police are calling "Trevor", was a passenger in the Mercedes SLR. Erikssen said that the driver of the SLR dropped "Trevor" off and drove away. None of this makes sense to the police because they know there was no SLR racing the Enzo.

  Now here comes the interesting part. "Trevor" had asked a motorist who stopped after the crash if he could use a cellphone. "Trevor" used the cellphone while sitting in the motorist's car. After "Trevor" left the vehicle, the motorist discovered the gun clip stuffed in the crevice of the seat.

  "Trevor" also gave police his home address, which ended up being a $14 million yacht in Marina Del Rey.

[Chromas]

Thanks goes out to WreckedExotics.com fan Nate Lau for creating an awesome overhead shot of the accident scene, stitched together using multiple screenshots. It really shows the scale of the carnage. (Click on thumbnail for full size)

 

[Chromas]

Update: Mar 05 - 12:00 PM EST - Erikssen told police that he has an official government function in counter-terrorism and is a deputy commissioner for the San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority's police anti-terrorism unit. Everyone is perplexed as to why the Transit Authority needs not only an anti-terrorism unit, but why they even need a police force when all they do is transport disabled people. Here's a picture from their headquarters, located at an auto repair shop. Things are getting weirder with this investigation... Stay tuned for more updates.

[Chromas]

• Update: Mar 06 - 11:00 AM EST - Here's an interesting tip from one of our readers regarding the Transit Authority "Police". Keep in mind that this is pure speculation at the moment.

  Why would a bus transit authority have a police department with an anti terrorism unit? The answer is simple. Over in the States, contrary to popular belief, full automatic machine guns are legal. The laws vary from state to state, making purchase and ownership difficult to impossible. In all states, you can not purchase fully automatic weapons if you are a convicted felon. In most states, you can not purchase fully automatic weapons unless you are a member of a police department.

  What is a bus transit authority going to do with all those MP5 sub-machine guns? I

[Chromas]

Update: Mar 17 - 7:00 AM EST - Here are some more photos of the Enzo before the crash took place. These were shot by Dechatre Arnaud in January on a Los Angeles freeway. Not sure if the Ferrari had broken down or if it was simply being transported.

[Chromas]

• Update: Mar 18 - 1:00 PM EST - The folks at Ferrari have estimated that it will cost between $250,000 and $300,000 to fix the Enzo.

• Update: Mar 20 - 10:00 AM EST - Some creative and funny things are being created in honor of the Enzo crash. Here are a couple of good ones.

  Eric Bauer has made a funny t-shirt to commemorate the crash. You can purchase one at www.ericgbauer.com

   

  

  ... and the folks over at Engadget made a cake to celebrate the crash:

   

  

[Chromas]

Update: Mar 27 - 1:00 PM EST - In the latest twist, police have confiscated Stefan Eriksson's $400,000 Mercedes Benz SLR after his wife was pulled over in Los Angeles. Nicole Persson was stopped on the corner of Beverly Drive and Wishire Boulevard because she was driving around with European license plates. The police later found out that she was driving without a license (not that she merely forgot her license, but that she never had a license in the first place). They also found out that the car was not registered in the United States and was reported stolen out of the United Kingdom.

The entire incident was captured on videotape by Spyder Dobrofsky (yes, the same Spyder who captured video of Stefan's black Enzo before the crash - this guy is amazing!!). Spyder said he would share the video with WreckedExotics fans so stay tuned. In the meantime, here is a photo he took from the scene:

[Chromas]

Update: Apr 02 - 5:00 PM EST - One of our fans noticed that our sister site ExoticSpotter.com had a photo of Stefan Eriksson driving around in the confiscated SLR back in November of 2005. In the photo, he's busy talking on his cellphone.

[Chromas]

Update: Apr 07 - 12:00 PM EST - Here are some more photos taken by Spyder Dobrofsky of the SLR being confiscated. Photo credit also goes to Paul Bogosian

[Chromas]

Update: Apr 08 - 10:00 AM EST - A guy named Nicolas from France sent us the following pictures of Eriksson and his black Enzo at last years Le Mans race. As you can see, the rims were still factory installed at that time.

[Tanjm348]

I once read that a 2nd hand Enzo cost US$2 million.

 

Its a limited edition, when it 1st came out brand new only US$750K

 

The guy must be a nut to smash the car...

Edited November 23, 2006 by Tanjm348

[Chromas]

Update: Apr 09 - 9:00 AM EST - Stefan Eriksson has been arrested!!

 

The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department stormed into Eriksson's Bel-Air mansion last night with a search warrant and arrested him on suspicion of grand theft larceny. It is not clear at this point whether the police arrested him for the theft of the Enzo, the SLR, or both.

Eriksson is now being held without bail and authorities have placed an immigration hold on him so he can't leave the country.

[Chromas]

Update: Apr 10 - 1:00 PM EST - Here is a photo of Eriksson's Enzos back in the good old days before the family was split apart. This was taken in Egham, Surrey, England in August of 2005 in front of a cafe near the Ferrari dealership. The photo is a bit low quality since it was taken by camera phone, but the person who took the photo says the factory rims on the Black Enzo were spray painted black.