Expensive car totaled in high-speed wreck

Lynn Doan

Friday, July 30, 2004 | 11:01 a.m.

A Las Vegas man may think twice next time before going out of town and leaving the keys to a $285,000 sports car available to young visitors staying at his house.

A 21-year-old French tourist took David Aninowsky's black 2004 Lamborghini for a 100 mph spin down Buffalo Drive about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday and totaled the sleek vehicle near Coley Avenue, Metro Police said.

The driver, Clement Picquet, lost control of the car, overcorrected and the Lamborghini spun out of control. The car left 422 feet of tire marks before striking a curb, sending it onto a sidewalk. It then plowed through 40 feet of brick wall before hitting a fire hydrant, a street pole, a fence and a dog, which was killed.

The car continued for another 270 feet before it stopped, then burst into flames.

Picquet came out of the wreck uninjured and refused medical treatment. His passenger, Clement Nouanet, was treated at University Medical Center for minor burns, according to Metro Police officer Tina Ellison and the accident report.

The Lamborghini was destroyed.

Police officers marveled that the two people in the car not only survived but didn't suffer more serious injuries. Lamborghini's Web site notes that the chassis of this model is extraordinarily strong because it is made of steel and carbon.

Ellison said Picquet was cited for reckless driving.

Craig Huntington, who lives across the street from where the accident occurred, said the damage was phenomenal.

"These people's brick wall is about about four feet high, and (the car) wiped out about a third of it," said Huntington, who was not home at the time of the accident.

The driver told police he had borrowed the car from his friend, Aninowsky, who was out of town.

"We don't know if he had permission or not at this time," Ellison said.

The hardtop Lamborghini Murcielago, named after a Spanish bull, can reach speeds of up to 200 mph, Exoticar Paint Works owner Mike Iannuccilli said. The car can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds.

"It's not like a Chevy," he said.

Iannuccilli said he only repairs a few Lamborghinis each year, usually for minor damages like bumper touch ups. He said the high-end cars are usually wrecked by inexperienced drivers who "let the cars get away from them."

Metro Police Lt. Wayne Petersen said the crash was a rare occurence.

"Cars worth more than people's houses aren't usually driven around these streets," said Peterson, who works in the traffic section. "There just aren't many people who would drive quarter-of-a-million-dollar cars around."

Peterson said he couldn't even remember the last time Metro Police were called to a traffic accident involving a Lamborghini.

Ellison said the owner may not even know what has happened to his car if he is still out of town, though she did say she thinks Picquet may have lost a friend.

Sun reporters Mary Manning and Heather Rawlyk contributed to this report.