By now, you might have seen that video of a Lamborghini Aventador getting rear-ended by an Audi at a Florida intersection. The incident went viral after being posted to TikTok, where it generated millions of likes, thousands of comments, and even a few national news stories showing the owner’s side of the story. But as the old adage goes, don’t believe everything you read on the internet.
The owner of the Aventador who originally shared the video is Matt Heller, the founder of HornBlasters, an aftermarket auto accessory company that outfits trucks with train horns. He originally posted the video over the weekend, showing the enraged owner of the Audi storming up to the window of his white Lamborghini and claiming that he had hit the front-end of her car.
It sounds impossible, and that’s largely what riled up the internet—after all, the footage from a security camera at the nearby gas station clearly shows the Audi ramming into the stopped Lambo waiting in traffic. It’s probably better if you re-watch Heller’s account of the accident that was posted to YouTube.
Clips from the video were posted to TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Reddit. Heller received a significant amount of support from users who praised his ability to stay calm and called him a “gentleman” for the way he handled the situation, which was admittedly cooler than the other party. Many commenters even outright attacked the owner of the Audi over her outburst and joked about her insurance paying up.
But, like most things on the internet, this isn’t the whole story.
Several days after the original post, the owner of the Audi, Maddy Gilsoul, posted her own video on TikTok showing additional footage from the gas station that wasn’t included in Heller’s viral videos.
As it turns out, Gilsoul’s claim of Heller hitting her car was actually in reference to the Aventador seemingly sideswiping the Audi at an intersection while a cyclist was crossing the street.
A doorbell camera on North Central Ave in Tampa, Florida caught the moments leading up to the alleged sideswipe. It shows the Audi behind another car that was yielding to oncoming traffic. Heller’s description of the incident says the driver at the front of the line sat through several green lights, which prompted him to honk even before it was clear again for them to turn on East Hillsborough Avenue. Eventually, the lead car turned when it was safe to do so and the Audi remained momentarily stationary, perhaps to allow the cyclist to cross.
“I was impatient, I did honk out of frustration,” Heller explained to The Drive. “I make train horns for a living and have learned it’s best to use sound, not violence to make a statement.”
Heller told The Drive that when he saw no oncoming traffic, he made the decision to cross the double-yellow line and overtake the Audi. While doing so, he notes that Gilsoul attempted to turn the Audi’s wheel towards his path of travel and block him from overtaking her car on the left. Heller said that he was not aware that he made contact with Gilsoul’s car and says that the only marks on his Aventador were from the Audi’s tire (which he mentions rubbed off, all except for the tear in his vinyl wrap).
What happens next is what caused Heller’s video to go viral: the rear-ending and the confrontation.
While it might seem that Gilsoul’s hit to the Lamborghini may have been accidental (perhaps caused by her not being able to see the low-slung supercar over cross-traffic), the reality—according to a screenshot sent to The Drive by Heller—may be a bit grimmer.
In a comment on one of the two videos posted to TikTok under her name, Gilsoul seemingly admits to ramming the Lamborghini as payback for the sideswipe. We were unable to locate this comment on any of Gilsoul’s videos; however, Heller provided The Drive with screenshots of the comment as well as several users encouraging Gilsoul to delete her statement to avoid admitting fault. Heller also provided The Drive with an invoice for the Aventador to show that it was not a rental as Gilsoul allegedly claimed.
Either way, neither party’s actions excuse the incident. This does at least explain what Gilsoul meant when she claimed that Heller had hit the front of her car—she wasn’t referring to the rear-end collision that had just happened, but the earlier contact made at the intersection.
Heller commented on a few Reddit posts claiming that the woman in the video was charged and that she had actually hit his car twice, presumably meaning once before the at the intersection and once after. Gilsoul has repeatedly refuted this and claimed that her car was the one wrongfully hit at the intersection. Heller later told The Drive that the Tampa police found Gilsoul at fault and cited her, though we haven’t been able to validate this claim. Gilsoul did not return our numerous requests for comment and the Tampa Police indicated that neither party was cited for the accident. Under Florida law, no further information about the accident could be supplied by police for at least 60 days.
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