Jerry Seinfeld’s brakes give out, but star is unharmed

By Matthew B. Zeidman

EAST HAMPTON, N.Y. (Hollywood Today) 4/4/08 – Call Jerry Seinfeld “Unbreakable.” The sitcom star avoided serious injury on Saturday, when he lost control of his 1967 Fiat on an Eastern Long Island road and was forced to flip over his vehicle to avoid colliding with highway traffic.

Seinfeld, 53, was approaching State Route 27 in East Hampton, N.Y., when he realized his brakes were not functioning. The popular comedian acted quickly, pulling the emergency handbrake and turning the wheel, slowing the car and causing it to flip onto its roof. Seinfeld was unharmed and able to avoid a collision with any other vehicles.

The New York native returned to the scene of the accident to speak with responding police after his publicist returned him to his nearby estate. Officers determined Seinfeld was not intoxicated or speeding and did not issue any tickets or summonses.

“It could have been a lot worse, obviously, and thank God it wasn’t. He’s fine,” Seinfeld’s wife, Jessica, told the “New York Post” Thursday. Seinfeld, himself, joked to the newspaper that he didn’t recommend driving without braking to kids following the story, unless they had professional clown training.

Seinfeld is best known for his highly rated self-titled sitcom that ran from 1989 to 1998 and examined the minutiae of ordinary life in New York City, including the rigors of car ownership. During one episode, his obsessive mechanic, played by funnyman Brad Garrett, stole his car to keep Seinfeld from bringing it elsewhere.