Could Lindsay Lohan actually be the victim in her Meatpacking District driving escapade, in which she was accused of striking a pedestrian with her Porsche SUV and leaving the scene? The starlet thinks she's being set up by an opportunist and WABC 7 reports, "A source tells Eyewitness News that surveillance video that captured the incident appears to show that alleged victim may not have been struck at all."
Lohan, 26, was arrested for leaving the scene of an accident at 2:30 a.m. yesterday after driving her SUV through an alleyway (more of a freight area) between the Maritime Hotel and Dream Downtown on West 16th Street. Apparently there was a crowd of people and Lohan—supposedly driving slowly—allegedly hit a man, who then confronted the starlet. But she and her companions went into the club, so the man, Jose Rodriguez, a chef at Bottega in the Maritime, called the police who arrested Lohan at 2:30 a.m.
Rodriguez claimed he had a knee injury and went to Bellevue. He told the Daily News that he "saw this car come real quick and hit me... I was in so much pain. I fell to the side," and insisted that she was slurring, "She smelled like alcohol real bad."
However, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said police officers didn't believe she was inebriated. The News adds, "An NYPD source told The News that video shows Lohan blinked her headlights at people in her path. Rodriguez walked right in front of her, the source said. The source said Lohan switched seats without assistance, and the car backed out — leaving Rodriguez to call 911. The cook did not tell officers Lohan smelled of alcohol, but he did describe her as 'disoriented' in a hotel incident report obtained by The News."
WABC 7 reports, "Detectives acknowledged that the video does not clearly show Lohan's Porsche hitting 34-year-old Jose Rodriguez. Investigators say the video does show Rodriguez running after Lohan's vehicle as she drove away from the Dream Hotel." Rodriguez, who said doctors diagnosed him with torn leg tendons, was photographed in a wheelchair. But Lohan reportedly told friends, "This guy [Rodriguez] is making something out of nothing because he thinks he can make money out of it." She should watch this old Brady Bunch clip:
As for the car, it belongs to her friend, artist Domingo Zapata. A source told the Post, "He is horrified and is taking the car away from her." Has he been on another planet?
