Second Man Arrested in Malibu Ferrari Crash Caper

• Irish National Who Fled U. S. and International Media Circus Illegally Reenters Country

BY ANNE SOBLE

Trevor Michael Karney, 26, the only other person who may actually know what transpired the morning of the Feb. 21, 2006, Enzo Ferrari crash heard around the world, pleaded not guilty Monday to misdemeanor counts of providing false information to a police officer and resisting, obstructing or delaying a police investigation.

Karney, who was at the scene of the spectacular totaling of the magnificent red Enzo, one of only 400 made, left the country not long after he and the car’s ultimately determined driver, Bo Stefan Eriksson, who is now serving a sentence in state prison, were allowed to be transported from the west Malibu Pacific Coast Highway crash site under questionable circumstances.

Karney departed for his native Ireland, which was downplayed by authorities at the time, who had bigger fish to fry as the circumstances regarding ownership of the Enzo and a trio of million-dollar-plus exotic supercars by Eriksson, a Swede and former Gizmondo handheld game executive who had taken up residence in Beverly Hills, took center stage.

But word began circulating a month ago that it might now be Karney’s turn to redress any notion that deputies had not handled the accident scene in an appropriate manner by not subjecting the pair to further questioning as witnesses or in some other capacity.

Karney was arrested last Wednesday in a Marina del Rey apartment. On the day of the Ferrari crash, he had told deputies at the scene that he lived on a yacht in the Marina that was subsequently determined to belong to Carl Freer, another Swede who was a colleague of Eriksson’s at Gizmondo.

According to a spokesperson for the district attorney’s office, despite Monday’s not guilty plea and the bail amount of $62,500, the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has put a hold on his release because of his alleged recent illegal entry into the United States from Ireland at the Mexican border.

Initially, Eriksson muddled matters at the crash scene by sending sheriff’s deputies on what was ultimately determined to be a wild goose chase, searching for a “mystery” driver named “Dietrich.” The saga was ultimately put to rest by DNA analysis and forensics test results that put Eriksson behind the wheel.

Did that leave Karney in the passenger seat as the other survivor of the crash of a vehicle designed to protect its cabin inhabitants at all costs? He became the center of his own auto-racing fanatics firestorm that contends that he was filming Eriksson’s 162-mph driving in an attempt to create a new version of the 1978 French cinema verité racing classic by iconic Claude Lelouch, “C’etait un Rendezvous,” and that the footage survives.

After the crash, although a journalist at the scene described Eriksson’s disheveled appearance and strong odor of alcohol, Karney allegedly had the presence of mind to borrow a cellphone from a passing motorist and reportedly arrange for men who may have been following the Enzo in another vehicle to show up and flash “federal homeland security” identification that would convince sheriff’s deputies to let the pair leave the crash scene.

That motorist later told authorities he found the loaded magazine for a .40 caliber Glock pistol that Karney allegedly left behind when he was in the vehicle.

The tangled web may yet begin to unravel.

MSN Photo
PLEA—On Monday, standing behind double glass panels in the courtroom,Trevor Michael Karney pleaded not guilty to all charges in Los Angeles Municipal Court. A bail review hearing is slated for later this week, but ICE, the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, has placed a hold on his release, as has the Orange County Automated Warrant System.