Man arrested on DUI after driving Ferrari into Richardson Bay's Strawberry Cove

A Mill Valley man was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving Nov. 29 after he reportedly veered off Seminary Drive, crashing a $350,000 Ferrari Portofino into the muddy shallows of Strawberry Cove.

Both the driver, 61, and passenger of the 600-horsepower hardtop convertible were uninjured, according to the California Highway Patrol, and were able to get out after the vehicle came to rest a few feet from the rocky shoreline, with water up to the bottom of its doors. They were able to slog through knee-deep mud of the Richardson Bay cove back to land by the time law enforcement arrived, said Strawberry resident Steve Disenhof, who witnessed the aftermath of the incident while he and his wife were out walking their dog.

“My wife’s gonna kill me,”  the man said, according to Disenhof. Reportedly the car was hers, and she’d been waiting two years for delivery.

Disenhof placed a 911 call about 3:25 p.m. to report the accident, which occurred as the car was traveling inbound on the shoreline side of the road into Strawberry, past Gilbert Drive and opposite the cove from De Silva Island. It’s unclear whether the driver was speeding in the 35 mph zone, CHP spokesperson Officer Darrel Horner said, but he wasn’t able to follow the curve in the road and instead drifted to the right, hopping a small curb and traveling about 10 feet past the shoreline into the water.

Horner said the driver was arrested after displaying signs of intoxication. He was taken to MarinHealth Medical Center in Greenbrae for a blood-alcohol test and evaluation before being released.

Results of the test were not available, and charges had not been filed by the Marin District Attorney’s Office, at The Ark’s press deadline.

The passenger declined medical attention and was released at the scene.

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