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In this Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009 photo, wrecker driver Gilbert Harrison, with MCH Towing, attaches a towing cable to a Bugatti Veyron that was driven into the water near Omega Bay in La Marque, Texas. A man blamed a low-flying pelican and a dropped cell phone for his veering his million-dollar sports car off a road and into a salt marsh near Galveston. (AP Photo/The Galveston County Daily News, Chris Paschenko) Video of Bugatti crash surfaces By Chris Paschenko The Daily News Published November 13, 2009 LA MARQUE — Police on Friday identified a Lufkin man who accidentally drove a $2 million Bugatti Veyron, a rare automobile that is perhaps the world’s fastest, into a saltwater lagoon. Andy Lee House, 34, owner of Performance Auto Sales, told The Daily News on Wednesday that a low-flying pelican distracted him, causing him to jerk the steering wheel a bit — and he then dropped his cell phone. The crash, however, was captured by someone filming the car as it traveled on the northbound frontage road of Interstate 45 about 3 p.m. Wednesday. The man filming was traveling north on I-45. No pelican was visible in the video, which shows the car veering from the road and splashing in the lagoon. With the Veyron in more than 2 feet of saltwater, House declined to give his name at the scene near Omega Bay. Driver offers thanks House posted a comment to The Lufkin Daily News, thanking everyone who was worried about him and the car. “I have taken my exotic cars to school events, rallies, and allow anyone to take pictures of my cars and even rides in them,” House wrote. “I have allowed many people into my home to see my cars that I don’t even know. ... Say what you want about me, but there is a man in heaven right now looking over me and that’s all that matters!” The 2006 Veyron is thought to have been one of only 200 made and one of only 15 in the United States. A 2006 model was for sale in Jonesboro, Ark., for $1.25 million. One of the prospective buyers was from Texas, The Associated Press reported in October. Police report released A police report, made public Friday, lists House as the driver and owner. The pelican caught his eye as it was quite close to colliding with the car, House said. House never said he was using the cell phone at the time. Dropping it added to the distraction just enough, sending the front passenger wheel off the road and into the soft, sloppy, muddy shoulder. A Daily News reporter arrived at the scene about 15 minutes after the car entered the water just in time to see the gurgling exhaust stop bubbling like an outboard motor as the 1001 horsepower engine died. House, who was perusing real estate in Galveston the day of the crash, was not injured. The Veyron is capable of speeds of more than 253 mph, but House hadn’t risked driving it on a private fast track to test the limits, namely because the insurance company wouldn’t cover any resulting mishap, he said. Insurance company takes car House called Gilbert Harrison, the tow truck driver who carefully winched the Veyron from the lagoon, telling him it was OK to release the car Friday to the insurance company. No information on the extent of the damage to the car’s electrical system, engine and components was available. Harrison remembered House saying his phone rang frequently after the crash. Arnold Schwarzenegger, governor of California, might have been among House’s callers, Harrison said. “I thought that’s what he said on the phone,” Harrison said. House seemed quite calm, Harrison said. “What I told him was I’d be as gentle as possible,” Harrison said of the tow that cost less than $1,000. “I did this tow like I do every car — like it was my own.” http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=3ba47b18e47df13e Link to Video

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The Bay Bridge is 73 years old. The Loma Prieta earthquake happened 20 years ago. The joke is that the eastern span of the Bay Bridge should have already been replaced, but then the local politicians wanted to built a monument to themselves instead of a functional causeway, and it will be four years before the self-anchored suspension span is completed.

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