Teenager Dies Taking Lamborghini for Test Drive

An 18-year-old died yesterday on Long Island, New York, when he took a Lamborghini for a spin and crashed it into a guardrail, Fox News reports. The car belonged to a family friend who'd let Samuel Shepard take it for a spontaneous "test drive." "I think it was probably just a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the kid, and this man chose to give him this opportunity," said a police detective. The car's owner, Michael Power, went along in the passenger seat and suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Shepard and Power were driving back to the parking lot when the teen lost control, probably due to excessive speed, police told Newsday.

Shepard's father said his son loved the Lamborghini above all other cars. "Since he's a kid, he's been around cars," he said. "He was a very talented kid with his hands. He always helped me at the shop." Shepard had been accepted as an elite Army Ranger and planned to serve about eight years before working as a police officer: "He had his whole future planned out," said his father, who added, "I'm numb." His father said he'd known nothing about the spur-of-the-moment test drive. (More Lamborghini stories.)