One Person Killed When Ferrari Crashes and Splits in Half

A Ferrari was cut in half when it hit a power pole along Pacific Coast Highway and crashed onto a Pacific Palisades beach Sunday, killing one man and critically injuring another.

The driver, who was headed from Malibu to Pacific Palisades, apparently lost control of the vehicle at a pair of S-curves just inside the L.A. city limits and hit a power pole, police said.

The 1999 Silver Ferrari was sheared in two and both passengers were thrown out. The sports car landed on the beach about 30 feet below the road.

Fire department spokesman Erik Scott said both victims were men. The passenger, 23-year-old Basil Max Price III, of Pomona, died at the scene. Paramedics took the driver, 24-year-old Vladimir Skvortsov of Upland, to UCLA Medical Center in critical condition.

The crash, about a quarter-mile northwest of Sunset Boulevard, was reported to the Los Angeles Fire Department at 1:27 a.m.. PCH was closed between Santa Monica and Malibu, frustrating thousands of people heading to a popular early-morning triathlon.

The accident also cause a power outage in the area, said Sgt. Jon Ficken.

No other cars were believed to have been involved. Video showed that the mid-engine car was split in two at the passenger compartment.

Los Angeles police with the West Traffic Division handled the investigation.

That stretch of PCH is no stranger to high-speed wrecks involving exotic cars. Twenty miles to the west, on Feb. 21, 2006, a drunken Swedish man crashed a rare Ferrari Enzo at 199 mph and miraculously survived.

The driver was later charged in a wide-ranging fraud case involving its purchase and other exotic cars and sentenced to three years in prison.
 

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