Moscow Monk Crashes Luxury Sports Car

The driver of a BMW Z4 Roadster that smashed into two other cars in a downtown Moscow accident on July 31 – and who then refused to submit to a breathalyzer test – proved to be the abbot at a local church, Moskovsky Komsomolets daily reported on Tuesday.

Alexei Podobedov, whose church title is Hegumen Timofei, was behind the wheel of the pricey sports car when he allegedly rear-ended a Volkswagen Touareg on Moscow’s Garden Ring Road and then veered into oncoming traffic, smashing into a Toyota Corolla.

The two other drivers claim that Podobedov smelled of alcohol and that his eyes were “crazed and glassy,” which Podobedov’s lawyer, Vyacheslav Podoprigora, said was due to medicine the monk had taken. His client had refused to submit to an alcohol test, the lawyer said, because his judgment was clouded by the injuries he suffered in the accident.

Details of the incident only came to light after one of the other drivers began to fear, given Podobedov’s position and influence, that investigators might determine she was at fault for the accident.

The traffic police say they are still establishing who was responsible. “For refusing to take the alcohol test the hegumen faces suspension of his license for 18 to 24 months,” department head Artyom Ivanov said

Podobedov was driving the BMW at the invitation of the car’s owner, a Maltese diplomat.

Podobedov serves at the Church of Elijah the Prophet in downtown Moscow. He sparked controversy this spring when, during the baptism of Russian pop singer Fillipp Kirkorov’s daughter, he allowed the entertainer into a part of the church normally closed to laymen.

 

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