Cele|bitchy » Accidents

Oct 12
'06

Paparrazi turf war: Angelina convoy crashes into motorcycle (update)

The Angelina convoy ran into a snafu while squiring her heiness from her hotel in Pune, India to the set to film “A Mighty Heart.” According to who you believe, either Angelina’s car or an over-zealous papparazo hit a motorcyle with two people on it.

No one was seriously harmed, and the most likely explanation is that a photographer did it, since there were far more of them, and that’s what an Indian newspaper is reporting.

The Mumbai Mirror says that there was a car chase of sorts, and that a bunch of donkeys blocked the road, at which point an eager photographer raced ahead, colliding with a motorcycle:

The paparazzi assembled at Pune are showing no signs of weakening. Yesterday a cluster of them, 20-odd packed into five cars and a few more in autorickshaws, chased Angelina Jolie all the way from Le Meridien to Aundh. Angelina didn’t appear too perturbed, as she sat with her head studiously tucked into the book, Crimes of War.

As they reached Aundh, however, both the chasers and the chased came up against a unique roadblock – a pack of donkeys. Everything came to a standstill then, and the photographers could get a picture. In the hurry to get ahead, however, one of the paparazzi cars dashed into a passing motorbike, overturning it and injuring the couple riding on it. Residents of Aundh, a normally sleepy suburb of Pune, mustn’t be too happy with the extravaganza unfolding in their backyard, anyway. Now there’s speeding paparazzi posing a risk to their life and limb…

Meanwhile, there’s also rivalry brewing between the paparazzi. Apparently, some of them who were in an auto and couldn’t get near enough Angelina’s Merc because the way was being blocked by another paparazzi car, flashed a knife at the photographers in the car.

The message is loud and clear. Anything for a sneak peak through the lens at Angelina Jolie.

The only pictures we have of Angelina are of her inside the car trying to read with sunglasses on, and that hardly seems worth all the trouble. When the paparrazi swarm so thickly around her that there’s a turf war and a car accident, it’s easy to see why she holed up in a luxury fortress in Africa to have her baby.

Meanwhile The Times of India is reporting that Brad and Angelina took a second rickshaw ride on Sunday to try and ease the demand for photographs. They rode around the city for 20 minutes on the photo-op, trying to give the paparrazi plenty of pictures to go home with. They thought it was a successful strategy, and it did reduce the number of people harassing them at the hotel. That seems to have only been a temporary fix considering the latest incident.

Update NBC News tells the story as if Angelina’s driver swerved to avoid the paparrazi and hit the motorcyclist. It is unknown what actually happened, and with so many different accounts it’s hard to tell.

Posted in Accidents, Angelina Jolie, Photos

Written by Celebitchy 7 Comments »

Sep 21
'06

Top Gear’s Richard Hammond seriously injured in crash

BBC’s “Top Gear” presenter, cutie Richard Hammond, was injured in a car crash while trying to break the land speed record and had to be airlifted to hospital:

The 36-year-old presenter was taken by air ambulance to Leeds General Infirmary’s neurological unit.

A spokesman for the hospital said Mr Hammond was “stable”.

Mr Hammond had been driving a dragster-style car capable of reaching speeds of up to 300mph at the former RAF airfield in Elvington, near York.

The crash will be investigated by the Health and Safety Executive and the BBC.

The BBC said in a statement: “We are looking into all the factors of this accident and it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage until we know the full situation.”

The dragster car he was driving was believed to have been travelling at about 300mph when it crashed.

Motoring expert Adam Rayner, of Fast Car magazine, said that at those speeds the driver would experience forces similar to those endured by fighter pilots.

“These cars accelerate at 6G - the force is breathtaking and stopping is a real difficulty,” he said.

Former firefighter Dave Ogden, who runs private firm Event Fire Services, was one of the first people at the scene of the crash.

He said: “We were down there with Top Gear who were filming him trying to break the British land speed record.

“On the previous run, the car had just gone over 300mph but I am not sure if it had broken the record.

“They had just done one more run and were planning to finish when it veered off to the right.

“One of the parachutes had deployed but it went on to the grass and spun over and over before coming to a rest about 100 yards from us.”

He said his crew and an ambulance that was already on the airfield rushed over and found the car upside down and “dug in” to the grass.

Mr Ogden said he felt for a pulse and heard Mr Hammond breathing before the emergency crews worked together to turn the car the right way up and then cut him free.

He added: “He was regaining consciousness at that point and said he had some lower back pain. But he was drifting in and out of consciousness a little bit.”

Top Gear is a weekly car show produced by the BBC that features unique stunts, high-end car reviews, and a three witty guys who never fail to make it highly-watchable and side-splittingly funny. It’s my husband’s favorite show, and I’m not into cars but I love it too. It’s hard to do the show justice in a review because it’s just that good.

It’s surprising that the team had Richard do the stunt, because they also have a professional racecar driver who always wears a helmet and it’s an ongoing joke that they don’t reveal his identity. They take a lot of risks on the show, but they seem to be calculated ones.

Here’s a video of Richard driving a Pagani Zonda on the show.

If you’ve never seen “Top Gear,” there are plenty of clips on YouTube. And here’s a Richard Hammond fan site, which is where we found the pictures.

Best wishes to Richard for a quick and complete recovery.

Posted in Accidents, Richard Hammond, Television, Video

Written by Celebitchy 5 Comments »

Sep 17
'06

Lohan ruins her mom’s birthday, next night is rushed to hospital

Lindsay Lohan showed up late to her mom Dina’s birthday dinner and was loudly overheard telling her to “go to hell” before she stormed out of the restaurant. The two were fighting and screaming at each other, and after Lindsay was gone and the cake came out her mother burst into tears:

The two began cursing each other in front of other patrons in the crowded Chinese eatery, including Ryan Cabrera, Brandy and Serena Williams at nearby tables. “A mortified” Lindsay finally told her mother to “go to hell!” before she exited. After Lindsay left, Dina started “crying and shaking . . . Dina typed vigorously on her BlackBerry for 45 minutes while her friends were just sitting there, and when the birthday cake came out, she broke out crying again - even louder.”

(Reported by Page Six on Saturday, September 16, 2006. Permalink no longer available.)

The NY Post also suggests that Lohan’s mom is a coke addict. They say she went to the bathroom five times and was sniffling a lot. In true style, Lindsay was seen out partying with friends later that night. While she supposedly looked like she had been crying at one point, she still managed to go to a Calvin Klein party and to club Bungalow 8.

The next night Lindsay met with one of her all-too-freuqent mishaps. She “slipped” and fell at a Fashion Week party, fracturing her wrist in two places. She is considering suing Milk Studios, where the accident happened:

Lohan’s publicist, Leslie Sloane, confirmed to Access Saturday morning that Lohan had in fact fractured her wrist in two places after suffering a fall at the Milk Studios in New York, where she was for a Fashion Week week event.

According to Sloane, while walking in an outdoor area in flat Channel boots, Lohan slipped. Her driver took her immediately to St. Vincent’s. Her mom drove in from Long Island to the hospital (and has been with her ever since).

Sloane also tells Access Hollywood that “there’s a pending investigation,” because Lohan claims that Milk Studios didn’t take adequate precautions to cover the slick ground. A message was left for Milk Studios for comment on Saturday, but Access Hollywood was so far been unable to receive comment.

Sloane added that her client had been scheduled to go back to LA for movie meetings, and that her “lawyers are looking into” the situation because the accident may have affected her ability to work and attend some of the meetings.

It seems like it would be foolish for Lohan to sue the venue for slipping. She’s known for her clumsiness and it might come out that she was drunk and/or on drugs at the event. She needed stitches in her shin back in February after slipping on a flight of stairs and breaking a teacup. She was at British pop singer Ryan Adams’ house at the time and claimed that she was wet and slippery after taking a shower.

Here’s Lohan putting on a happy face after the huge blowout with her mom at the Calvin Klein party on Thursday. Her fake tan needs some work.

Thanks to Linds-Lo.com for these pictures.