Although House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a prominent Democrat, often graces the headlines in the news, her 82-year-old multi-millionaire husband manages to stay in the background. However, it has now been revealed that Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, killed his 19-year-old brother in a car crash when he was just sixteen years old. Pelosi flipped over his sportscar in Northern California during the ride, which occurred in February 1957.
At the time, according to a contemporary newspaper report, Paul Pelosi was a high school sophomore. He was charged with misdemeanor manslaughter, but he did not go to court. Instead, he was exonerated by a coroner’s jury.
Nevertheless, Paul’s brother, David, 19, urged the high school sophomore to drive slower before the crash ended his life, according to a police patrolman quoted in the 1957 edition of the San Francisco Examiner.
“This is a bad stretch – better slow down,” David allegedly told his younger brother. Paul was driving up to a tight curve near Crystal Springs Dam on the Skyline Highway, which is now along California State Route 35.
After the crash, Paul spoke to Patrolman Thomas Ganley about the incident. He claimed that he tried to heed his brother’s advice and attempted to slow down the sportscar by shifting gears. However, this tactic failed to work, and Paul lost control of the vehicle and crashed the car.
“The car veered across the road, bounced back from a small embankment, climbed 20 feet up another, spun around and somersaulted simultaneously and ended upside down on the shoulder with both youths underneath,” reported the Examiner.
While Paul was able to escape the crash, his brother David was stuck under the car and perished.
According to reports, Paul crashed his sportscar at 2:40 am on February 22, 1957. He had picked up his brother, David, at his girlfriend’s house in San Francisco. Instead of deciding to go home, the brothers chose to go on a joyride through the vacant roads of California.
David was wearing a neck brace at the time of the crash, which likely contributed to his death. He fractured his neck after diving into shallow waters in Lake Tahoe. The car was “lodged tightly against his neck,” and he was unable to escape the crushing weight.
“They jacked up the car to relieve the pressure, but the youth apparently was already dead,” the Times reported.
Over the weekend, Paul was cited for drunk driving. He was behind the wheel of another sportscar, his 2021 Porsche when he was driving home from a dinner party. He pulled his car onto State Route 29 and right in front of Jesus Lopez, 48, who was driving. Neither man was injured, and Lopez was not charged.
The vehicles crashed into a wooden fence.
On Monday, Paul Pelosi’s lawyer said: “Mr. Pelosi was attending a dinner party at the home of friends near Oakville. He left that party at 10:15 pm Saturday to drive to his home a short distance away. He was alone in his car. Mr. Pelosi was fully cooperative with California Highway Patrol officers who arrived a few minutes later.”
Meanwhile, “The Speaker will not be commenting on this private matter which occurred while she was on the East Coast,” her office said.
