A video went viral last year showing a guy driving around Manhattan wrecking cars for no reason. Not just any guy: a guy in a Gemballa GT, one of the most expensive and rare supercars of the modern era. Fast forward a year later and Road & Track reports that the driver has gotten off with all charges dropped.
The driver, Benjamin Chen, went on an early morning crash rampage through Manhattan last April. The car, a Gemballa Mirage GT, was pretty much destroyed. (A Gemballa Mirage GT is a highly modified Porsche Carrera GT that cost nearly $800,000 when new. Only 25 were ever made.) Video from the morning shows Chen plowing into random cars and then driving off, running red lights, and generally shocking New Yorkers that yeah, he’s actually doing that.
Here’s the wreckage of the car, hanging out in front of a police precinct, shot by Damrys7 on YouTube:
And here’s a compilation of various clips of the wrecks themselves pulled from around the internet:
After the dust settled, five parked cars had been hit, according to the NYDP. Given state the car was in after the crashes, it’s amazing it was able to keep going. Chen was arrested and charged with operating a vehicle under the influence and reckless driving. You’d think that with anyone in a case like this would at least get a couple of years in prison right? Well, apparently money gets you off because all charges against Chen were dropped on Monday.
The reason? There wasn’t enough evidence. A record from Chen’s court appearance on Monday states:
“The People are moving to dismiss this matter because the case cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Remember that there are multiple videos showing Chen crashing into the vehicles, eyewitness accounts, and the NYPD saying he was under the influence of drugs. On top of all of that, this isn’t Chen’s first time getting into a wreck with an exotic. It looks like the justice system has proven yet again that if you have enough money and the right lawyer, you can get off from a crime. Even with evidence, they’ll say that there wasn’t any. The owners of the vehicles he wrecked should sue him for damages. That way they can get some kind of justice. It looks like he can afford it.