Car Influencer James Wehr Was in Driver’s Seat During Deadly McLaren Crash, Pulled Over Hours Before

Car influencer James Wehr was in the driver’s seat of a 2019 McLaren that crashed on Sunday, September 13, killing him and Alexis “Lexi” Kramer, police confirmed.

Wehr, 27, and Kramer, 22, suffered fatal injuries in the early hours of Sunday following an accident in Irvine, California, in which his supercar crashed into a tree, split in two and burst into flames.

“We have evidence that shows a female was in the passenger seat just before the collision,” Irvine Police Department spokesperson Kyle Oldoerp told Us on Wednesday, September 16. (TMZ was first to report the news.)

The spokesperson also confirmed to Us that the McLaren had been pulled over by the Newport Beach Police Department in California earlier in the evening.

Newport Beach police told the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday that Wehr had been pulled over by officials on Saturday, September 12, roughly five hours before the fatal crash.

An officer “observed a vehicle with a loud exhaust” and initiated a traffic stop at roughly 7:21 p.m. local time. “The stop resulted in a warning issued to the driver,” spokesperson Heather Rangel told the newspaper.

Us has reached out to the Newport Beach Police Department for further comment.

Wehr was the cofounder of a popular weekly car meetup, South OC Cars and Coffee, in San Clemente, California. His family identified him as one of two passengers involved in the blaze via social media Sunday.

“This morning, just after midnight, we lost our darling son and brother James in a motor accident,” read a statement posted by South OC Cars and Coffee on Instagram and reshared by his parents, Simon and Sarah Wehr, sister Sophie and wife Emma.

“We respectfully ask for privacy as a family as we process this profound loss,” the post continued. “We would appreciate all of your good thoughts and prayers, and for those of you who knew James, thank you for being his friends, his mentors and his peers.”

Wehr’s wife of one year, Emma, shared in a separate Instagram tribute, “I never thought the day would come that I’d have to say such a final goodbye. Getting the opportunity to love you will always be the greatest blessing in my life … Like I said in my vows, I’m so grateful to have gotten the chance to live my life at the same time that you lived yours. Whether it’s in this lifetime or the next, my heart will always find its way to you. Rest easy, my love.”

A family member of Kramer’s, meanwhile, identified the Hooters calendar model as the second victim killed in the crash while speaking to the California Post on Monday, September 14.

The relative told the outlet that Kramer had flown from Lakeland, Florida, to California on Friday, September 11, to spend the weekend with Wehr. They also claimed that Wehr had told Kramer he was in the midst of divorcing his wife.