The driver of a Bentley that exploded on Rainbow Bridge earlier this week was ‘alert and not impaired’ as he desperately slammed on the brakes, according to an expert.
Vincent A. Ettari, a civil engineer, told The New York Times that he believes Kurt Villani was frantically slamming the brakes of his 2022 Flying Spur as it exploded on Wednesday.
Villani and his wife Monica, both 53, had been on their way to a KISS concert when the horror crash took place on Wednesday.
Ettari, who serves as an expert witness on road design in court cases, said that a dark vapor behind the car seen in surveillance footage suggests Villani was not impaired at the time and was aware of what was going on.
He told the outlet that: ‘At 100 miles per hour, everything is on the table’, with officials yet to identify exactly what went wrong with the vehicle.
In this image taken from security video, a light colored vehicle, top center, flies over a fence into the Rainbow Bridge customs plaza, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2023, in Niagara Falls, N.Y
Vincent A. Ettari, a civil engineer, pictured here, said that he believes Villani was frantically touching the brakes of his car as it exploded on Wednesday
Kurt Villani, 53, was killed with his wife on Wednesday when their Bentley lost control and crashed on Rainbow Bridge. He is shown in 2014
The couple had been in their $300,000 Bentley at the time and had told friends there was a problem with the accelerator in the weeks before the accident. Bentley is yet to comment on the tragedy.
Niagara Falls Police Chief John Faso told local media on Friday that the investigation into what caused the car to race through an intersection, hit a low median and become airborne would continue.
According to Faso, investigators are looking at whether medical or mechanical issues may have contributed to the incident.
The car slammed into a row of security booths at the Rainbow Bridge and burst into flames.
The wreck prompted widespread concern on both sides of the border, as video and images of what appeared to be the aftermath of an explosion began to circulate online and officials closed the bridge and three other nearby crossings.
Authorities investigated for several hours before the FBI’s Buffalo office said it found no signs of a terror attack and turned the case over to local police as a traffic investigation.
Online business records and the company website indicate the victims’ family owns Gui’s Lumber and seven Ace Hardware locations in New York, his family operating the business since the mid-1980s.
The families and the lumber company said in a joint statement released by the Erie County Sheriff’s Office on Friday: ‘We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to all that extended prayers, condolences and well wishes.
‘At this point, we are requesting privacy so we may begin the process of healing.’
Law enforcement personnel block off the entrance to the Rainbow Bridge, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2023, in Niagara Falls
The couple were driving a 2022 Flying Spur, similar to the vehicle shown in the above picture
The Niagara Falls Police Department has said the crash investigation will take time given the complexity.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has described it as ‘surreal’ and said the vehicle was ‘basically incinerated’ with nothing left but the engine and a scattering of charred debris.
‘You actually had to look at it and say, was this generated by AI?’ Hochul, a Democrat, said at a news conference Wednesday. ‘Because it was so surreal to see. How high in the air this vehicle went, and then the crash, and the explosion, and the fire.’
On Thursday, members of the community on Grand Island paid tribute to the pair as a generous and thoughtful couple.
‘You know, just plowing everybody’s driveway for the love of it, you know what I mean? Just always willing to help and lend a hand. Always. always, always. They were just so very, kind wonderful people,’ said resident Mary Meyer.
The enormous explosion happened when the car crashed at an immigration checkpoint
Workers block the entrance to the Rainbow Bridge border crossing between the U.S. and Canada, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2023, in Niagara Falls, Ontario
Chuck Meyer added: ‘Without ever being asked, they would just be giving and gifting, and that’s the type of people we lost.’
Since the incident, it has been revealed that Bentley recalled some car models in 2021 because accelerators were becoming stuck, sparking safety fears.
The car maker issued the recall in the summer of 2021 for Continental GT and Flying Spur models built between 2018 and 2021.
The recall notice cited a manufacturing flaw that caused accelerators to get stuck while engaged.
‘Due to inconsistent fitment of the fuse box and the electrical harness the A-post lower trim can protrude into the cabin reducing clearance to the accelerator pedal.
‘If the accelerator pedal is fully pressed whilst driving and is unable to return to its resting position, the vehicle will continue to accelerate, even when the driver’s foot is removed from the accelerator pedal,’ the notice read.
Wednesday’s incident is not the first time a horrific crash has claimed the life of a member of the Villani family.
In July 1978, Villani’s grandmother, Lorraine, was killed when she was flung from a boat that was traveling along the Niagara River at 3am.
Kurt M. and his wife, Gail Villani, were also on board at the time but were unharmed.
The boat struck a bridge while Lorraine Villani was at the helm. The family later successfully sued the company that built the bridge, after it was found to not have been properly illuminated, for $120,000 in 1984.
Online records show that the Villani family owns a range of properties in the Grand Island-area.