The $300,000 Flying Spur was allegedly being driven by a 56-year-old businessman from New York, the outlet has determined
A Bentley ‘Flying Spur’ luxury car, similar to the one which allegedly crashed into the US-Canada border checkpoint in Niagara Falls © Getty Images / Raymond Boyd
The individual allegedly responsible for Wednesday’s explosive car crash at the US-Canada border may have been a New York businessman, according to British tabloid the Daily Mail. The outlet claims that the unnamed man was together with his wife when he plowed his $300,000 Bentley supercar into a tollbooth crossing, killing both of them.
The incident in question, which initially sparked concerns of terrorism due to the magnitude of the explosion, took place at 11:27 am local time on Wednesday at a tollbooth crossing into the US on the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls. The crash left the two occupants of the car dead, one border patrol agent with minor injuries, and took four toll booths out of order.
The precise moment of the crash was caught on surveillance cameras along the US-Canada crossing. The CCTV footage, which has since been spread across social media, shows the vehicle speeding up before being launched into the air and crashing into a checkpoint and violently exploding.
While the official investigation into the incident is still ongoing, the Daily Mail has claimed that the vehicle in question was a Bentley Flying Spur, which allegedly belonged to a 56-year-old businessman from New York who was traveling with his wife in the passenger seat.
Before crashing into the border crossing, the outlet claims that the pair had visited a casino resort for a few “minutes,” allegedly to change some money.
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CNN has also reported that the man behind the wheel of the luxury car was from a well-known family in Grand Isle, New York, and may have had a medical issue that contributed to the accident.
The explosive nature of the crash had initially sparked speculations that the vehicle may have been loaded with some sort of explosives and was being used in a terrorist attack on the Customs and Border Patrol building.
However, police have reportedly found no trace of explosives in the car, while New York Governor Kathleen Hochul has dismissed rumors of foul play, stating that the two victims are believed to have been local residents and that terrorism was unlikely, as there have been “no indication based on online threats or anyone taking credit for this.”
On Wednesday night, the FBI officially announced that it had concluded its investigation at the scene of the Rainbow Bridge incident and that it had found no explosive material and was unable to identify any “terrorism nexus” and was now treating the crash and explosion as a traffic accident.
