18 year old given Ferrari

[A Horse With No Name]

The Ferrari that crashed and burned Friday morning in north Fulton, critically injuring the two people inside, was a gift to the 18-year-old driver from has father.

Channel 2 Action News reported that Akshay Panducherry, 18, of Alpharetta, who was burned over 80 percent of his body, was given the Italian sports car last week.

His passenger, Harshavardhan Patlolla, 21, of Alpharetta was also critically injured.

Alpharetta police spokesman George Gordon told the AJC that authorities initially got a call just before 4 a.m. about a possible brush fire on Webb Bridge Road near Alpharetta High School.

“Unfortunately, when our police officers arrived on the scene, they discovered the fire was actually caused by a single-vehicle crash,” Gordon said. “They found a red Ferrari that was on fire approximately 60 yards into a wood line.”

Gordon said that the two men inside the Ferrari had crawled out of the car, but had sustained “significant” burn injuries. They were airlifted to Grady Memorial Hospital in critical condition, he said.

“The vehicle itself is totally destroyed,” Gordon said. “It went completely up in flames and it basically is not recognizable as a vehicle at this point.”

“We know that a high rate of speed was a contributing factor in this crash,” Gordon said.

The Ferrari was a model F430, which was manufactured from 2004 to 2009. It had a base price of $171,000 and an estimated top speed near 200 mph, according to Road & Track magazine

[David]

WHY WHY WHY, When will parents learn that giving your kids what ever they want does not make them a good person. Now they have to deal with their kid being burned over 80% and scared for life. The Moron Father.

[ocnblu]

Prolly nothing we say can make that father feel worse. He should have given his son a Salsa Spark, if he really wanted a red car.

Or an '82 LeSabre with a 3.8L 110 hp powerhouse.

[daves87rs]

Sad....

[Drew Dowdell]

One wonders if the father spent any money on performance driving lessons.

[David]

One wonders if the father spent any money on performance driving lessons.

I agree, with these kind of super fast cars, driving lessons should be mandatory.

[frogger]

The 18 year old driver has passed away.

[David]

The 18 year old driver has passed away.

Very sad, while I feel the father is mostly responsible for giving the auto to an immature kid, it was the kids decision to drive much faster than he had the skill set to handle.

Sad for the family and friends. I hope his passenger survives.

[Drew Dowdell]

Sad news, but also sadly predicable.

[GMTruckGuy74]

Very sad story and such a tragic ending for a young person.

This is why my 18 year-old step son drive's a '98 Buick Regal LS. That's plenty fast for him.

[Z-06]

That is unusual for a guy from that part of India to give his kid such an expensive toy. Most of them are considered to make their kids learn the hard way.

[David]

That is unusual for a guy from that part of India to give his kid such an expensive toy. Most of them are considered to make their kids learn the hard way.

Yet I have found that many people from India, do give their kids everything and spoil them here in America when they have been very financially successful.

It was pathetic some of the parties I have see at hotels I have stayed at for 1year old, 16, 18 etc. They spend crazy amounts on their kids.

[jvcmike]

While this is a sad sit. when will these parents realize if you give your kid a high powered car and tell them to be careful, they have these peolple called friends that that will pressure them to push it. Some kids will show off in front of their friends to prove a point. Lesson here is to give these kids a sensible car, because driving is dangerous by itself without adding a high powered car to the mix.

[Camino LS6]

Hmmm.... at 18 I was driving a big block musclecar.

I didn't wreck it.

But it wasn't given to me.

I pushed it, sure.

But I kept it out of the ditch, and myself out of jail, and always got my passengers home safe.

Maybe when such a thing is given as a gift, valuing it and the lives of those in it in proper fashion just doesn't happen?

Having "everything" at 18 has to produce a bizarre mindset.

[A Horse With No Name]

Very sad story and such a tragic ending for a young person.

This is why my 18 year-old step son drive's a '98 Buick Regal LS. That's plenty fast for him.

Also much easier to molest young women in.....I knew he liked the Buick for a reason....

[balthazar]

For too many individuals, contrary to popular wisdom & convention; 18 years old is not really an adult.

I generally am of the opinion that an individual is responsible for his own actions, and so it is the case with the son here.

That said, you just don't DO what the father did.

[loki]

"as life get's longer all of it feels softer and it feels pretty soft to me"

the curse of being "civilized" is "kids" take to long to realize they aren't superman, aren't always popular, and shouldn't always get want they want.

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

Hmmm.... at 18 I was driving a big block musclecar.

I didn't wreck it.

But it wasn't given to me.

I pushed it, sure.

But I kept it out of the ditch, and myself out of jail, and always got my passengers home safe.

Maybe when such a thing is given as a gift, valuing it and the lives of those in it in proper fashion just doesn't happen?

Having "everything" at 18 has to produce a bizarre mindset.

I agree...

My first car was a high powered muscle car, albeit not a Ferarri, and I never wrecked or killed myself.

I think this should come at the discretion of the parent. If the kid is responsible enough, sports cars are fine. BUT you'd better be damn sure your kid is responsible.

Honetsly, I got real tired of every middle-aged hick in my town saying "Boy, you don't deserve that car..."

Above all, this is just incredibly sad... I feel for the family.

[A Horse With No Name]

I feel for the family also...

However, I also feel that getting young people into legitimate motorsports is a good option.

[FAPTurbo]

WHY WHY WHY, When will parents learn that giving your kids what ever they want does not make them a good person. Now they have to deal with their kid being burned over 80% and scared for life. The Moron Father.

A lot of it is guilt. Where I live (and I'm sure in Seattle too), a considerable number of Asian students have high-priced vehicles and toys, yet they live here alone. They're called 'satellite children,' because their parents are in Hong Kong or China.

Wealthy parents don't have the time to actually be, well, parents. So they use material goods to offset the guilt. As this case shows, good parenting was missing.

Edited October 27, 2012 by Pervez Musharrfap

[David]

WHY WHY WHY, When will parents learn that giving your kids what ever they want does not make them a good person. Now they have to deal with their kid being burned over 80% and scared for life. The Moron Father.

A lot of it is guilt. Where I live (and I'm sure in Seattle too), a considerable number of Asian students have high-priced vehicles and toys, yet they live here alone. They're called 'satellite children,' because their parents are in Hong Kong or China.

Wealthy parents don't have the time to actually be, well, parents. So they use material goods to offset the guilt. As this case shows, good parenting was missing.

Very true, Both of my kids now 29 & 25 have friends who are Satellite kids and they have everything given to them. Very sad that the parents cannot be real parents. Many of my kids friends come over on Sunday to be a part of our required Family Dinner. Amy and Alex are not allowed to miss Sunday dinner. A chance to get caught up on each others life and unplug from the high paced tech race of society. Their friends are always welcome and we always have 2 or 3 that join us and really like it. They have started to call us Mom and Dad and even come to talk to us about decisions they make since we do not judge them, we just offer our input based on our experiance being 20+ years older than them.

Wow Do I feel old now.

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

I feel for the family also...

However, I also feel that getting young people into legitimate motorsports is a good option.

Wow, I think that is a fantastic idea!

'Wanna go fast? Here's how/where you do it correctly.'

[David]

I feel for the family also...

However, I also feel that getting young people into legitimate motorsports is a good option.

Wow, I think that is a fantastic idea!

'Wanna go fast? Here's how/where you do it correctly.'

I think any performance auto especially once you go above the subcompact or compact market needs to have a 1 or 2 day training class on how to best handle your performance auto. I think this will build more responsibility into the users. Start off with a video on crashes and the ugly truth of how speed can kill in inexperienced hands and then move on to how fun it can be with the right training.

There is no reason the US cannot have our own unlimited Autobahn here. I90, I5, I10, I25, I70, I30, I45, I95, I75, I79, I80 and I81 to name a few.

If we required a true $3000 driving school that includes the basics of high speed driving and how to handle spinnouts, recovery, skids, etc. We would have far better drivers on the roads.

Also, Driving is a privilege you earn, not a right. As such, if you cannot handle the stress of driving at posted speed limits, then off the road you go and enjoy the side roads or mass transit. The freeways are from getting from Point A to Point B as fast as possible. No one should be allowed on a major freeway doing 45 in the far left lane or even the carpool lanes.

[Guest Shiv Raja]

On ‎10‎/‎25‎/‎2012 at 2:56 PM, Z-06 said:

That is unusual for a guy from that part of India to give his kid such an expensive toy. Most of them are considered to make their kids learn the hard way.

Yep I agree . I am indian and my parents gave my a ( bleep) Honda from 1996 as my first car