$1M Car Crash Caught On Tape?

The plot can't get any thicker.

Authorities trying to unravel the mysterious crash of an exotic $1 million Ferrari are now attempting to determine if the accident was videotaped, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The sports car was traveling at an estimated 162 mph when it hit a power pole along Pacific Coast Highway last month and virtually disintegrated.

Ever since then, police have been scratching their heads over who drove the car, who owns it and the appearance at the scene of the crash of two mystery men who falsely claimed to be from "Homeland Security."

And then there's the little matter of a loaded gun clip found at the crash scene, a $14 million yacht listed as a home address and a storefront transit agency with its own police department.

Now, the Times reports, police have been told that the two men in the car had a video camera rolling as they sped along the highway. Needless to say, no video equipment was found at the scene of the crash, and no tape has been recovered.

"It's like a James Bond story," said Sgt. Philip Brooks of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said. "But I just want to find out who was driving the Ferrari."

Stefan Eriksson, who apparently owned the red Ferrari Enzo — one of only 400 made — escaped the Feb. 21 crash with only a cut lip.

Authorities said Eriksson told them he was a passenger in the car and that the driver, a German acquaintance he only knew as "Dietrich," ran into the nearby hills. Deputies launched a three-hour foot and helicopter search but failed to turn up Dietrich.

Eriksson also said the Ferrari was in a race with a Mercedes SLR, whose driver took off after leaving behind its passenger.

Cops later identified the second man in the Ferrari as Trevor Karney and determined that there was no race and no Mercedes.

Only the driver's side air bag had blood on it, and Eriksson suffered a cut lip, Brooks noted. "We want to see if his blood matches the blood in the Ferrari," Brooks said.

Eriksson's attorney, Ashley Posner, declined to discuss the crash with the Associated Press.

Eriksson's blood-alcohol level after the crash was .09, slightly more than the legal .08 limit, Brooks said. If it is determined he was the Ferrari driver, he could be charged with driving under the influence, reckless driving and providing false information to authorities, Brooks said.

Then there's the mystery of the loaded gun magazine. According to Brooks, a motorist who stopped to offer help allowed Trevor to use a cell phone in his car. The motorist later discovered the magazine stuck in the driver seat of his vehicle, Brooks said.

In another twist, the second man in the car, Karney, provided deputies with a home address that is a boat slip in Marina Del Rey. The slip houses a $14 million yacht.

Meanwhile, investigators are trying to find two unidentified men who showed up at the site of the crash, claiming to be "homeland security" officers from a nonprofit transit authority.

The two men spoke with Eriksson, who told investigators that he, too, was a deputy commissioner of the San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority, which provides free transportation for the disabled in the suburbs east of Los Angeles.

The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority's Web site lists the agency's address as 148 E. Lemon Ave. in Monrovia. The location is Homer's Auto Service, an auto repair shop.

Brooks said he referred the matter to the sheriff's terrorism unit for investigation. He said detectives believe the two men from "homeland security" received their badges from the transit authority.

The transit authority denied sending anyone to the wreckage.

"To our knowledge, no one from the transit authority went to the scene, and if they did, they were not authorized to do so," said Posner, who also serves as chairman of the transit authority's board of directors.

Officials in cities that the agency serves questioned why a small transit authority would need a police department.

"We warned them that if the police agency operated with them in the city of Monrovia, it would jeopardize their (transit) agreement with us," Monrovia City Manager Scott Ochoa said.

Posner said Eriksson was given an honorary position with the organization after he helped develop a video surveillance system for use in transit buses.

As for the destroyed car, the Ferrari company told Brooks it could be shipped to Italy and fixed for $200,000 to $300,000.