A 48-year-old man drove his Ferrari into the Lake Worth Inlet in Palm Beach County, Florida claims that he did it because Jesus told him to. The man, identified as James A. Mucciaccio Jr., made headlines last month when he drove what looked like a Ferrari 360 Modena into the water after a conversation with a police officer regarding an issue with Mucciaccio allegedly driving over the speed limit. When the police officer asked to his license, Mucciaccio got into the car, reversed it off the dock, then accelerated forward into the inlet, sending the Ferrari into the water. Apparently, the Lord Almighty himself was behind all of it, or so Mucciaccio claims.

Alrighty, then. The details behind this incredible story are, well, incredible. 48-year-old James Mucciacccio Jr. made headlines in later December 2018 when he drove a Ferrari 360 Modena into the Lake Worth Inlet in Palm Beach County, Florida. It made headlines, in part because the car was a Ferrari and in part because of the circumstances that led him to do it. Well, it turns out that the story didn’t end with just the 360 Modena taking a swim into the inlet. Hang on to your seats, fellas. It gets more interesting.

According to the report, Mucciaccio was found by a police officer parked on the Inlet Dock a day after Christmas after a bicyclist called local authorities to report a “dark-colored” Ferrari that was speeding down North Ocean Boulevard, one of the area’s biggest roads. When the officer arrived and asked to see Mucciaccio’s driver’s license, the 48-year old got back in the Ferrari and proceeded to drive it into the inlet. Fortunately, Mucciaccio was able to get out of the Ferrari before it sunk to the bottom of the inlet. Two nearby fishermen saw the episode unfold and drove over to help Mucciaccio out of the water before dropping him back to shore where he was put in handcuffs. When asked by the officer why he drove the Ferrari into the inlet, Mucciaccio’s response was one for the books.

Welp.

Oh, but it doesn’t end there, either. The police officer then spoke with the fishermen who helped Mucciaccio out of the water, and according to one of them, the 48-year-old man gave him an apple to let him on the boat. He also said that he drove the Ferrari into the inlet because he believed “the officer was Egyptian, and he did not believe in Jesus.” Fortunately, Mucciaccio wasn’t injured from the episode and his Ferrari 360 Modena, while heavily damaged, was raised to the surface and towed back to shore after rescue officers attached inflatable lift bags on it.

As weird as the incident has gotten, none of it still explains why Jesus would talk to Mucciaccio or why He instructed him to drive his Ferrari into the like. It’s a shame because the Ferrari 360 Modena is still, well, a Ferrari. Sure, it’s a 14-year old sports car, but it still packs a 3.6-liter V-8 engine that produces 400 horsepower and 275 pound-feet of torque. At launch, the 360 Modena was capable of sprinting from 0 to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds before hitting a top speed of 183 mph. Granted, it’s not a “new” Ferrari by any means, but it still deserved better than getting driven into an inlet, even if the Lord Almighty told the driver to do it.

As an aside, what is it with supercars and bodies of water, right? Remember in 2016 when a heavily modified, 2,000-horsepower Lamborghini Gallardo crashed into a lake? How about in 2009 when a driver of a Ferrari F430 swerved into a lake to avoid hitting a boy. Lest we forget, the mother of all supercar-meets-body-of-water episodes also happened in 2009 when a Texas man intentionally drove his Bugatti Veyron into a lagoon for the sole purpose of committing insurance fraud. Seems like if you own a supercar, it’s in the best interest of the car if you don’t drive it near an inlet, a lake, or a lagoon. Who knows, the Care Bears might tell you to dunk it in the water, too.

1999-2004 Ferrari 360 Modena Drivetrain and Performance Specifications

Type

rear, longitudinal 90° V8

Bore/stroke

85 x 79 mm

Unitary displacement

448.29 cc

Total displacement

3586.20 cc

Compression ratio

11 : 1

Maximum power

400 HP @ 8,500 RPM

Power per liter

112 hp/l

Maximum torque

275 LB-FT @ 4,750 RPM

Top speed

over 295 KM/H (183 MPH)

Acceleration 0-100 km/h (62 mph)

4.5 seconds


Further reading

Read our full review on the 1999 - 2004 Ferrari 360 Modena.