Zhan John Akopyan, 50, is gearing up for a battle in court in with the California Highway Patrol. He received a ticket on November 20th for allegedly going 152 mph (244 km/h) on Highway 154 where the speed limit is just 55 mph (88 km/h). The trial is set for March 20th in Santa Maria Superior Court.
Akopyan made headlines just days after the traffic stop involving his Lamborghini Aventador SVJ largely due to the extreme speed police accuse him of driving. He was ticketed for a misdemeanor of reckless driving. CHP posted about the incident on its Facebook page saying “We know how tempting it can be to ‘open it up’ when your car is fast and the weather is beautiful, but save it for the track!”
According to local news outlet The Tribute, an attorney for Mr. Akopyan, Beverly Hills-based Nathan Soleimani, entered a plea of not guilty during a February 6th court appearance. The trial begins on March 20th at 1:30 p.m. in Santa Maria’s Superior Court. Soleimani declined to comment but officials from the city and police department had a few things to say about the incident.
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The officer who submitted the citation, Joel Asmussen, says that “It is likely if Mr. Akopyan had continued driving in the reckless manner I observed, he would have been involved in a collision due to the high rate of speed.” It’s unclear as to what defense Akopyan’s counsel is intending to use against the charges.
DA John Savrnoch says that proving a reckless driving charge of this type will require the CHP to prove that there must be an element of danger to others which would include more than simply speeding on a wide open road.
Joan Hartmann leads the Highway 154 Safety Committee as Third District Supervisor and says that “unsafe driving is the No. 1 cause of accidents on Highway 154.” To be very clear, the umbrella of things that fit under “unsafe driving” is big enough to cover the continental United States.
Notably, Lamborghini claims that the Aventador SVJ can actually accelerate to 219 mph (352 km/h), so if Akopyan was going 152, he was only at about 75 percent of the car’s capability. It will be interesting to see how this court battle plays out.