Beverly Hills racing villain: Prince Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad al Thani of Qatar flees country

Also missing are the LaFerrari and Porsche.

By Raif Karerat

The driver who claimed diplomatic immunity after participating in a high speed street race through Beverly Hills in a bright yellow Ferrari is part of the Qatari royal family.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad al Thani has been dubbed the “patron sheikh” of drag racing by other members of the press.

Over the past weekend, a video went viral showing a white Porsche 911 and a yellow Ferrari LaFerrari blazing past street signs and households in a manner that would not have seemed entirely out of place in a “Fast and Furious” film.

After discussing the matter with the U.S. State Department and the Qatar consulate, authorities concluded the sheikh did not have any sort of immunity, police Chief Dominick Rivetti said during a news conference Thursday.

The city will apply the law equally regardless of “who you are, who you know or where you are from,” Rivetti said, as top Beverly Hills officials stood behind him.

However, after the video went viral Al Thani took his leave of the United States, absconding with both cars seen in the video.

Al Thani had sponsored Al-Anabi Racing, a team he’s injected millions into so it could rise to the top of the professional drag-racing circuit in a short time, before funding was abruptly withdrawn in January, according to the L.A. Times. The Wall Street Journal reported he’s been into racing since he was 12.

“They’ve been known to come and stay in the summer with their nice cars. For the most part, they’re very laid-back and mellow,” Adam Bornstein, a car enthusiast who posted the video online, said of the Qatari drivers.

“It was pretty quick … a spur-of-the-moment thing,” he continued. “The bottom line – for the whole car community, it’s definitely a sad representation. … The whole buzz is everybody’s upset that this does not accurately represent what it’s like.”

Contrary to Bornstein’s laid back description of the Qatari royal and his entourage, video journalist Jacob Rogers said Al Thani confronted him over his filming, according to NBC4.

“He told me verbatim, ‘I could have you killed and get away with it,’” Rogers said. “I told him, ‘the press is allowed to be here on the sidewalk on a public street.’ He said, ‘(Expletive) America’ and threw a cigarette at me.”

“He still proceeded to push me. I started walking backward with my camera up on my shoulder and at that point, he punched the camera as I was trying to lift it up on my shoulder,” Rogers told ABC7.