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Welly Olympic horseman involved in car crashes

Posted by Jose Lambiet | Busted, Heroes, Jocks, crash |
Tags: , , , , , ,
| Thursday 9 April 2009 12:37 pm Print This Post

 

Memo to Canadian Olympic hero Eric Lamaze: You just can’t, repeat, can not, jump a fence in a car!

Lamaze’s neighbors at the fancy Palm Beach Polo Country Club have become weary of his late-night car rodeos.

Eric Lamaze as he won the Olympics show-jumping in August

Eric Lamaze at the Olympics in August

According to police and club security records obtained by Page2Live, the bad boy equestrian has been involved in two serious car crashes inside the quaint Palm Beach Polo in the past 17 months.

Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputies didn’t believe Lamaze’s claims he was just a passenger in the latest accident, about midnight March 21. They charged him with leaving the scene of an accident, careless driving and driving with an expired license. Lamaze suffered scrapes and bruises and declined care.

Deputies think they can prove Lamaze, who was banned from two Olympic games (in 1996 Atlanta and 2000 Sydney) for drug use, flipped his AMG SL63 Mercedes on its roof near his $3 million mansion at the club. The car ended up on lawyer Richard Abedon’s front lawn on Mizner Way.

Damages were listed at $52,000, for the car and Abedon’s mailbox.

Eric Lamaze“Neighbors around here have tried to talk to him about slowing down,” Abedon said, “but he likes his cars fast. He went through my mailbox and into a palm tree. If it weren’t for the tree, he’d have driven into my house.”

Abedon, who called 911, says that Lamaze’s statement to PBSO that a “French friend” was driving is false.

“Eric was driving,” Abedon said. “Security guards have tried to follow him home in the past, but they’ve lost him because he goes so fast.

“He crashed the car and somehow climbed out then he ran into his house to call his lawyer. He’s well-trained.”

Lamaze didn’t return a call, but one of his lawyers, Don Dufresne, says at least three witnesses can confirm Lamaze wasn’t driving.

“Any determination in this case is premature,” Dufresne said. “Things aren’t as they seem.”

In Nov. 2007, according to country club records, Lamaze’s BMW somehow damaged the entrance of the Eagle Landing neighborhood of the Polo Club and continued into a man-made lake.

Police weren’t called in, but according to the security guard, Lamaze claimed he wasn’t driving. Still, he paid the HOA $3,100 for the damages.

After missing two Olympics because of drug use, Canadian gold-medalist show-jumper Eric Lamaze flips his sports car in a residential Welly neighborhood. Is he in trouble again?

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5 Comments »

  1. Comment by Brian — April 10, 2009 @ 6:10 am

    Terrance and Phillip? We’ve found your idiot…

  2. Comment by lCarla Corts — April 10, 2009 @ 6:05 pm

    Whoever thinks show jumping is not a real sport is totally clueless. These riders spend many years to get to this level. Its dangerous, extremely difficult and is both physically and mentally challenging. Anyone can play baseball try riding a horse.

  3. Comment by Brian — April 10, 2009 @ 9:38 pm

    try driving a car

  4. Comment by Thomas — April 23, 2009 @ 2:18 pm

    This does not surprise me at all. The guy is an egotistical idiot. Hope they throw the book at him, but it still won’t knock any sense into a brainless addict.

  5. Comment by Laurel — February 5, 2012 @ 5:08 pm

    egotistical, ya, thats why whenever he wins an event he tells everyone that it was all Hickstead. Don’t talk about things you know nothing about. Also I think the chances of anyone ending up perfect with their mother in jail, father not around, and raised by an alcholic grandma are pretty slim. Sure he has made some mistakes but so has everyone to a degree

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