With motor vehicle traffic greatly diminished on city streets during COVID-19 social-distancing—experts estimate traffic volumes have dropped 35 to 50 percent since the first week of March—some drivers are using this time to brush up on their reckless high speed driving techniques.
On Tuesday morning, one driver took his extremely rare and expensive Porsche for a Grand Theft Auto-style smash up through Midtown. Video, which you can see below, shows the driver of the blue race car careening out of control and smashing into one vehicle. The driver then attempted to leave the scene, but ended up hitting three other parked cars.
A police spokesperson told Gothamist that 33-year-old Benjamin Chen, who was driving the 2014 Porsche Gemballa Mirage GT, was arrested at the scene at West 44th Street and 11th Avenue. He has been charged with reckless driving and operating a motor vehicle while impaired by drugs. Cops add that no one was injured in the incident.