Deadly car race on A66: fateful horsepower arrogance

When Navid A. hadn’t caused such a terrible accident, he could almost be called a local patriot. Again and again he appears on the social network Instagram in front of the Frankfurt skyline, in a gym in the Zeil, in a shisha bar in the city center and in the VIP box of the Waldstadion. Above all, however, he uses the backdrop of the big city to display his cars. Drive through the fair in the Range Rover, put the orange Lamborghini Huracán in a downtown parking lot, in a Bentley drive through town at night, in the Tesla Model X you can even take your hands off the wheel thanks to the autopilot.

As is often the case on social media, there are also considerable doubts about Navid A’s self-portrait. It begins with the last name, which is probably a pseudonym. This continues with the declaration of 1.1 million “followers”, which led to the crash on Autobahn 66, many media reports mentioning an “Instagram star”. But these numbers can be manipulated, as is well known, the number of posts by Navid A. is relatively low and there is no blue mark that Instagram uses to verify celebrity accounts.

It is also unclear if the luxury cars presented belong to the twenty-nine-year-old, if he has loaned or rented them. The orange Lamborghini on Instagram has the license plate FN 91, so Navid A. should have been known on the scene as well. The car involved in the accident, a dark Lamborghini, had registration number FN 92. It is unclear how Navid A. financed the cars and their lavish lifestyle. Rumor has it that he made money selling Instagram followers.

Murder “for low motives by means that are dangerous to the public”

Navid A. shares his passion for high-powered sports cars with other young people. They pose with their vehicles on Goethestrasse and Osthafenbrücke, many video clips are highlighted with hip-hop beats. Navid A. himself also documents the tendency to life-threatening frenzy, now likely responsible for the death of a female driver, his Lamborghini’s speedometer reads up to 277 kilometers per hour when driving on a night highway near Frankfurt. The car can barely stay in its lane, almost taking off, as the comment on the film is “Too windy, wow.”

Now the Iranian has to answer for murder, “for base motives and by means that are dangerous to the public.” It is indisputable that he himself was at the wheel of the Lamborghini, which on Saturday afternoon raced down the A66 along with two other sports cars and finally collided with a Skoda. That’s how the police see it. Navid A. was the only person in the car. He was only slightly injured while the woman in the Skoda died. Police arrested Navid A. while he was still in the hospital. He has reportedly not yet committed to the act.

Navid A is silent on why he was racing on the busy highway at such high speed that afternoon and what role the second Lamborghini, which later fled the scene of the accident, played in this, and whose driver is still being wanted: Navid A. saves silence. Testimony and video that was posted on the Internet Saturday night and that the police described as “authentic”. It shows how the three cars accelerate in various lanes in the direction of Frankfurt. The following sequence shows a column of black smoke rising into the sky, the moment after the accident.