Beijing's ‘Fast and Furious’ crash drivers are 'unemployed', police say
Authorities detain two drivers over suspected road race involving multimillion-dollar vehicles, saying the young men are unemployed
Police have detained the drivers of a Lamborghini and a Ferrari that crashed in a Beijing tunnel during a suspected road race on Saturday night and said they were unemployed.
The cars were travelling at over 160km/h, nearly three times the speed limit, when they spun out of control and the Lamborghini slammed into the side of the Datun Road Tunnel in Chaoyang district at around 10pm, according to the capital's traffic police. It was raining heavily at the time.
The two suspects were identified as a 20-year-old man surnamed Yu from Changchun in the northeastern province of Jilin, who was driving the Ferrari, while a man surnamed Tang, aged 21, from Beijing, was in the Lamborghini, police said, adding that both were jobless. One person in the Lamborghini was slightly injured.
The crash has drawn attention online, with some questioning how the suspects were able to get access to the luxury vehicles. It also came hours before a midnight screening of the latest instalment of the blockbuster Fast and Furious franchise in Beijing.
“Socialism is so good that it allows unemployed people to drive supercars,” one posting said on Weibo. “What are their names? Who are their fathers?” another posting asked.
The area is notorious for road-racing, and witnesses said the two cars were jostling for the lead when the crash occurred. They bumped sides as the Lamborghini tried to pull ahead, which sent it careening into the side of the tunnel. It ran over a low-sitting guard rail and tore down chunks of white panel.