Mystery Passenger-Driver Is Focus of Malibu’s Latest DUI Auto Saga

• Name of Other Person in Mercedes during Barron Hilton’s Arrest Is Being Kept under Wraps •

BY ANNE SOBLE

Now that Ferrari Guy, Bo Stefan Eriksson, has been deported to his native Sweden, Malibu is ready for a new car story. While the latest saga may not be making headlines around the world, it has the celebrity media abuzz. Much of the buzz, however, appears to be in error.
How much error is still unclear, as local law enforcement agencies are staying mum about some specifics surrounding the escapades of a member of the Hilton clan for whom driving under-the-influence arrests appear to be family rites of passage.
As previously reported, Barron Hilton, 18, who lives with his parents in Beverly Hills, and is described by none other than the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department as the “younger brother of Paris Hilton,” was arrested in Malibu on Tuesday, Feb. 12, for driving under the influence.
Sheriff’s deputies had received a call that a vehicle was being driven erratically near Latigo Canyon Road and Pacific Coast Highway just before 8 a.m., according to a press statement that the Malibu Surfside News had to request by e-mail, a new procedure, according to veteran journalists.
A deputy’s report states that the driver of a second vehicle on Pacific Coast Highway reported witnessing that Hilton, driving a black Mercedes Benz, was allegedly weaving on the road and, at times, driving on the wrong side of the highway.
The witness followed the vehicle until the young scion stopped at Corral Canyon Road and PCH and got out of the car. The witness, according to the report, then told Hilton to sit on a bus bench and wait for sheriff’s deputies.
When deputies arrived, they said they conducted a drunk driving investigation and arrested Hilton for driving under the influence. He was also alleged to be in possession of a fake driver license.
Hilton was booked at Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station where he was held overnight, then released on bail. It was reported that Hilton had a .14 blood alcohol reading. In California, .08 is considered legal intoxication for drivers over 21. For drivers under 21, any blood alcohol level constitutes legal intoxication.
That’s the part of the incident that involves Hilton. That information, according to Sgt. Phil Brooks, the Lost Hills traffic liaison, is being turned over to the L.A. District Attorney’s office. A spokesperson for the DA’s office told The News Tuesday that nothing has been filed with them yet, and they cannot put the matter under review until the material is received.
There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of mystery so far. Where things get a little murkier is with the California Highway Patrol’s part of the case, which involves Hilton’s female passenger, whose name, according to Officer Leon Hines, the media liaison for West Valley Office of CHP, cannot be released to the media.
Hines says this isn’t a case of celebrity coddling, but the passenger, reported to be 19, cannot be named because no arrests have been made in an ongoing investigation. Hines refuted media reports attributed to him that the passenger was Skye Peters, the daughter of film producer Jon Peters, who is sometimes described as the god-daughter of local Barbra Streisand. Skye Peters and Hilton made headlines last December when the pair were found by police at the Bel Air Hotel after being reported missing.
It is being alleged that this unidentified female may have been driving the car, which is registered to a third party also unidentified, when it was involved in a collision prior to Hilton taking the wheel.
If the woman is well known, one can’t tell from the name being circulated, but Hines says the possibility of a fake driver license hasn’t been ruled out.
What Hines did disclose is that the victim in the alleged collision identified the female as the driver when the accident occurred at about 6:30 a.m., earlier that Tuesday morning.
According to Hines, the female driver was heading west in PCH in lane one at an unknown speed, while the victim was heading west in lane two. The woman drove into lane two and the right side mirror of the Mercedes hit the door of the victim’s Ford pickup.
Hines said the woman and Hilton switched seats at some point after this incident, but when is not clear from the report.
Further complicating the case is an injury report made by a complainant the day after the DUI arrest, which Brooks said is “puzzling” as there were five deputies at the scene when Hilton was arrested and nothing was said about an employee at the service station having being injured when they were there.
The complainant alleges that he was hit by the Mercedes when it pulled into the service station. This matter is under separate investigation.
This latest story may not feature a million-dollar-plus Ferrari or a spectacular crash, but it’s going to have to do until something better comes along.