Horror filmmaker Eric Red (The Hitcher, Body Parts, Bad Moon) crashed his Jeep in to a West LA bar, killing two, in an apparent road rage. Then he slit his own throat at the accident scene with a piece of glass before being stopped by bystanders. Despite these heinous actions he may get off clean having never paid a cent in damages nor serving a day in jail.

…suddenly it (Red’s car) was going an estimated 35-40 miles per hour the wrong way across Wilshire, witnesses told police. It jumped the curb and obliterated a bus stop, scooping up 26-year-old Santa Monica City College English student David Roos, who was running for the safety of Q’s Billiards, located at 11835 Wilshire, immediately behind him. Taking out an outdoor patio of tables and scattering bodies — among them, 34-year-old environmental lawyer Noah Baum, there celebrating his first trial victory — the SUV continued unabated through the plate-glass windows and front doors of Q’s, stopping only after it had moved the heavy horseshoe-shaped mahogany bar, beer taps and freezer units several feet.

How could Red escape justice? It’s a story that involves a dirty doctor, an agressive legal strategy, and a defendant determined to survive regardless of the odds.

Fortunately, the LA Weekly decided that it is a story worth telling.

h/t: LA Observed

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This entry was posted on Thursday, January 12th, 2006 at 9:42 pm by Insider and is filed under Brilliant, but uncategorizable. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.