You’ve probably seen the viral video where a LaFerrari and a white Porsche 911 GT3 blast through residential streets in Beverly Hills, scraping their bumpers, blowing past stop signs and grenading one of their engines. And you may have wondered, “Where are the cops in all of this?”


Turns out they’re looking into it, but the owner of the $1.5 million LaFerrari says he can’t be prosecuted in this country.

NBC Los Angeles reports police are looking into the speed incidents that have racked up hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube since they were captured over the weekend. The LaFerrari and the GT3 were seen racing through the 700 block of North Walden Drive until the Italian exotic pulled into the driveway of a home with its engine smoking.


From the news story:

Police said they did not see the violations and “could not take any law enforcement action such as a citation or arrest,” according to a news release. While police were conducting their investigation, they were approached by a man who said the vehicles belonged to him and denied speeding, running stop signs or driving recklessly. He said he had diplomatic immunity. Police said they have been in contact with the United States State Department about the diplomatic status of the people involved and the legality of the vehicles driven on the road.

It’s not immediately clear where the cars were from, but other recent YouTube videos indicate the yellow LaFerrari seen around Beverly Hills is from Qatar, and comments on those videos indicate the suspects may be tied to the Qatari Royal Family. The news report does not mention the drivers’ national origin.

Either way, the news report indicates the owner believe themselves to be very much above the law. Here’s what a man claiming to own the cars told a freelance video journalist who went to see them on Monday afternoon:

Video journalist Jacob Rogers said that a man confronted him when he captured the incident on video. “He told me verbatim, ‘I could have you killed and get away with it,’” Rogers said. “I told him, ‘the press is allowed to be here on the sidewalk on a public street.’ He said, ‘(Expletive) America’ and threw a cigarette at me.”


The owner should note that diplomatic immunity can be revoked by his home country, although that tends to be rare and only in egregious cases.

Well, LaFerrari guy, you may have diplomatic immunity, but that doesn’t make you immune from being an asshole.


Update: Police officials told Jalopnik that while there are multiple videos of the incident, they do not have a positive identification yet of the LaFerrari driver. They have ID’d the Porsche driver, but his name has not been released and no charges have been filed.

“It’s in the hands of the State Department now,” Police Lt. Lincoln Hoshino said. “Honestly, we don’t even know who was driving the Ferrari. All this driving occurred outside the presence of the police.”


As for the diplomatic immunity claim, Hoshino said: “They can claim diplomatic immunity if they have the proper credentials for that status.” Where the case goes from here is still developing.