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Valet arrested after downtown joyride in guest's $200,000 sports car

7 years 4 weeks 22 hours ago Monday, February 27 2017 Feb 27, 2017 February 27, 2017 11:23 PM February 27, 2017 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE - Police arrested a hotel valet driver accused of taking a guest's expensive sports car on a late-night joyride downtown.

Kenneth Smith, 22, posted bond and was released charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and aggravated assault with a firearm.

The incident occurred Feb. 11 around 4 a.m. outside the Hotel Indigo on Convention Street in downtown Baton Rouge.  The owner of a McLaren MP4-12C said he woke up, saw his car was gone and ran downstairs.

Video shows the owner in a heated exchange with the valet driver.

After confronting the valet, police were called to the scene and Smith was arrested.

In the video, two men can be heard shouting at each other.

VALET: "First of all, I grabbed my gun because that ************ was watching your car."
OWNER: "You grabbed a gun?!"
VALET: "Because he was watching your car. So he wouldn't take your car, I grabbed my gun because he kept watching it. Look at the cameras. He kept watching it."

After the confrontation, the video shows another man taking the valet by the arm to the McLaren where he grabs something out of the vehicle.

When contacted Monday night by WBRZ, Hotel Indigo management had no comment.

Earlier Monday, Hotel management posted this message on the owner's Facebook video of the incident: The management team at Hotel Indigo takes the security and safety of our guests very seriously. We are very distressed that this happened. This was an alarming incident, one we have never experienced before at our hotel. We have taken steps with the appropriate authorities. Since this is an ongoing investigation, we are not at liberty to make any further comments.

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