US Diplomat In Near Collision With Kazakh Presidents’ Motorcade April 25, 2006
Posted by notapundit in Main, US News, World News.trackback
ALMATY, Kazakhstan (AP)–A U.S. diplomat tried to flee police after nearly colliding with the motorcade of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev in the commercial capital Almaty, the president’s office said Tuesday.
The diplomat, who was driving a Jeep, entered the motorcade on a central Almaty street Sunday by “pure accident,” said presidential spokesman Valeri Zhandauletov. However, he “got scared” and tried to escape and hit a security officer before police caught up with him, Zhandauletov said.
The U.S. Embassy confirmed Tuesday that the diplomat, whose identity it refused to release due to his diplomatic status, had inadvertently entered the president’s motorcade.
He was pulled over by traffic police who checked his documents and when the documents were returned he thought he was free to leave, an embassy spokeswoman said. But it turned out that police weren’t done with him, she said.
The Liter newspaper identified the diplomat as Lee Henry Richard, adviser to the U.S. military attache, and said that police had refrained from opening fire on the diplomat’s car only because it had diplomatic plates.
“It was super cheeky,” the paper quoted traffic police chief Omurzak Tusumov as saying. “The diplomat nearly collided with the president’s motorcade, hit a security officer, refused to obey our (police) officers and even inflicted bodily harm on one of them.”
Tusumov said that the incident was under investigation.
[...] But from the US side: The AP story So maybe it was just a screw up–so this guy stopped peacefully or he was jumped and forced to stop at threat of strangulation? EDIT: The whole thing has now blown over nicely. It was just a mistake, he was in a big rush and thought he had just gotten lucky by finding the street empty of all traffic. When he saw the limo with the Big 01 KZ, he panicked. Understandable. Also while seeking news on that, I ran into this: Three Kazakhs in Guantanomo [...]
[...] But from the US side: The AP story So maybe it was just a screw up–so this guy stopped peacefully or he was jumped and forced to stop at threat of strangulation? EDIT: The whole thing has now blown over nicely. It was just a mistake, he was in a big rush and thought he had just gotten lucky by finding the street empty of all traffic. When he saw the limo with the Big 01 KZ, he panicked. Understandable. Also while seeking news on that, I ran into this: Three Kazakhs in Guantanomo [...]