From the Daily Mail: A wealthy bull terrier breeder slammed his $400,000 Rolls-Royce into two women crossing the street in a ‘rage-fueled’ attack, a lawsuit has alleged.
Robert Knox Thomas, 79, was speeding through downtown Napa, California, when he ran a stop sign and struck two pedestrians, according to the civil suit filed Tuesday.
Surveillance footage showed Annamarie Thammala and Veronnica Pansanouck about to step onto the sidewalk when the SUV turned onto the street and crashed into them.
Thammala, 29, was thrown into the air, slammed into a building and crushed beneath a tree that had been severed by the car, the complaint stated. Pansanouck, 31, was allegedly dragged and pinned underneath the Rolls-Royce before it crashed into a nearby restaurant.
The pair were left with ‘catastrophic injuries’ that will require ‘lifelong medical care’ because of Thomas’s alleged ‘rage, aggression, and a deliberate disregard for human life,’ their lawsuit alleged.
Here’s where the story really gets wild…. the report states that Thomas is unlikely to ever serve any jail time over the horrific November 25, 2024 crash, because the offenses are not considered a crime.
Instead, Thomas, a leading member of the worldwide bull terrier breeding community, was only given three citations for traffic violations in connection to the crash.
It gets even more bizarre. According to the report, the reason Thomas was driving so wildly and speeding through the streets of Napa was because he had driven to a UPS store to pick up packages for his wife, and became irate because he was unable to find a parking space.
Thomas reportedly circled the block multiple times in his 2023 Rolls-Royce Cullinan SUV, was seen revving his engine repeatedly and moved the vehicle back and forth for ‘no apparent reason’, then accelerated down the street, screeching his tires and pointing at pedestrians in a threatening manner.
Thomas allegedly swerved back and forth, driving in the wrong lane, and burning rubber as he drove toward the intersection, then plowed his car into the two women.
Witnesses described the speed of the SUV as ‘pedal to the metal,’ the Daily Mail wrote.
After a lengthy investigation, the Napa Police reportedly determined that Thomas “mistakenly hit the gas instead of the brake when he ran the stop sign” and “unintentionally struck the victims” while trying to avoid crashing into a restaurant.
His trial is scheduled to start on December 15. He is reportedly hiding out at his $7 million private estate.
But wait… there’s more! The Daily Mail writes:
He was cited by Napa police again in March this year, just four months after the crash, for allegedly turning right at a stoplight without coming to a stop.
Thomas pleaded not guilty in the case with his lawyer arguing that his dogsitter had been driving at the time, according to the Press Democrat.
The citation was dismissed in July but Thomas was cited the next day for making an illegal turn at a red light, court records showed. He pled guilty to that offense.
READ MORE on the wild scandal from the Daily Mail.
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