2 Men Die as Ferrari Flips Out of Control, Crashes

By Stephen Osman and Richard Winton, Times Staff Writers

May 24, 2006

A man who authorities said may have been an off-duty California Highway Patrol officer and a second man who has not been identified were killed Tuesday in a rollover accident involving a Ferrari, the second high-profile Ferrari crash this year in Los Angeles County.

The accident on Cornell Road in Agoura Hills occurred about 3:15 p.m., when the silver 1993 Ferrari Testarossa spun off the road and flipped, the CHP said.

Both victims, believed to be men in their 30s, died at the scene, authorities said.

The Ferrari may have been traveling at high speed when the driver lost control, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Sgt. Phil Brooks. "It came off the corner and went into the air and hit a pole and rocks before flipping upside down," he said.

Brooks said evidence at the scene indicated that one occupant was an off-duty CHP officer. But CHP officials said late Tuesday that they were awaiting results of fingerprint tests to confirm the victims' identities and declined to say more.

They also declined to name the Ferrari's owner until the victims' identities were confirmed.

The Ferrari was traveling south on the narrow road when the driver apparently lost control and hit a telephone pole, said CHP Public Information Officer Leland Tang.

The pole crashed through the passenger compartment and the car then flipped, flinging a large boulder from its resting place, neighbors said.

The car stopped in a corral owned by actress Morgan Brittany. "I heard a screaming engine coming around the curb, and the next thing I heard was a horrific crash," she said.

In February, the nonfatal crash of a $1-million Ferrari Enzo drew national attention.