Lance Armstrong tried to weasel his way out of another scandal, this time by letting his girlfriend take the fall — and it has landed him in hot water again.
The disgraced cyclist was allegedly involved in a hit-and-run in Aspen, Colorado, last month — but it only became a hit-and-run when police discovered that Armstrong’s initial report was a total lie.
Armstrong’s longtime girlfriend, Anna Hansen, initially told police that she was driving the couple home from a party at the Aspen Art Museum when she lost control of their Yukon on icy roads and hit two parked cars. Unfortunately for her, she was caught in the lie when the man who was renting one of the cars told police his side of the story.
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According to the police report, the man said Hansen told him that Armstrong was driving — and strangely referred to him as her husband, despite the fact that they are not married.
“She said, ‘I’m Anna, we’re the Armstrongs, my husband’s Lance, he was just driving maybe too fast around the corner or something,'” the man told police.
He called 911, but the couple left the scene before cops arrived. When they finally were able to interview the couple, both said Hansen was driving because Armstrong had been drinking. But suspicious cops contacted the valet company working the party, who said the person they helped into the passenger’s seat was definitely Hansen, not Armstrong. When confronted, TMZ said, Hansen shakily tried to say they switched seats after stopping at a market, but cops still weren’t buying it. Eventually she broke down and admitted Armstrong was the driver, but both had agreed to let her take the blame — however, now she denies Armstrong was drinking at all.
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“He was not intoxicated, and that was um, you know, I’m sorry I lied to you that morning but I was trying to make [it] sound like, well, I was driving because that was, just, I don’t know… I was just trying to make something up at that time,” she said, according to the police report.
“We’ve had our family name smeared over every paper in the world in the last couple of years and honestly, I’ve got teenagers, I just wanted to protect my family. I thought, gosh, Anna Hansen hit some cars, it’s not going to show up in the papers, but Lance Armstrong hit some cars, it’s going to be a national story.”
While Armstrong has not commented on the accident, he did retweet these instructions on how to drive in icy conditions today, perhaps for future reference.
Most people can't drive in the snow for shit; don't be like most people http://t.co/D4IkhjzuEl
— Deadspin (@Deadspin) February 3, 2015
While Hansen is not facing any charges as of yet, Armstrong was hit with two minor citations and is due in court on March 17.
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