Social media influencer Jack Doherty has been defended by his brother who claims he crashed his $300,000 supercar because of a ‘puddle’ – not because he was distracted by filming a live stream.
Jack, 20, was driving his custom wrapped McLaren 570S on Sunday when he smashed into a barrier on a highway in Miami before being dragged out of the window while his friend held his own bleeding head in the passenger seat.
At the time of the crash, Jack was livestreaming on Kick to 185,000 followers. Video footage shows him driving with one hand at high speed in torrential rain and glancing down at his phone just minutes before he smashed into a barrier.
But his brother Michael – who was following behind in another car – has denied he was distracted by livestreaming, insisting the accident was caused by the McLaren’s tendency to hydroplane in wet weather.
‘At the time of the accident he wasn’t on his phone,’ the 22-year-old told DailyMail.com exclusively. ‘That was a few minutes prior. I know a lot of the clips are showing that he was on it. But that was, I would say, about a minute or two prior.
Jack Doherty, 20, crashed his $300,000 McLaren supercar on a wet highway in Miami while live streaming to 185,000 fans on Kick (photo of Jack inside his car following the accident)
Jack’s brother Michael Doherty, 22 ( right) told DailyMail.com that his sibling wasn’t livestreaming when he crashed and that the accident was caused by a ‘puddle’
‘What really happened was that he hit a pocket of water, and McLaren’s are pretty notorious for spinning out. He hydroplaned into the barrier and kind of over corrected, which is someone’s first instinct.
‘When you hydroplane, you want to correct the other way, and that caused him to spin out.’
When pushed on whether he truly believes his brother was not distracted by filming in the sportscar, he conceded: ‘Right, I mean, there was definitely an aspect of distraction, but I mean the main aspect of what caused the crash was the water on the highway that caused him to hydroplane.
‘I guess he didn’t realize that or didn’t see that puddle. And that’s what happened.’
Jack managed to escape unscathed but his friend Michael David, who was sitting in the passenger seat, could be seen with blood streaming down his face and had to be taken to hospital.
But not before Jack handed him the camera and said: ‘Michael, here. Film on that phone too.’
Footage from the livestream shows Jack handing his camera to his brother. He requested that his sibling film him being dragged out of the car window after the crash as he repeatedly commented on the state of his car.
Michael appeared to dismiss their friend’s injuries claiming it wasn’t as bad as it looked.
‘At the time of the accident he wasn’t on his phone. That was a few minutes prior,’ Michael said (photo taken of Jack’s totaled car following the crash)
‘What really happened was that he hit a pocket of water, and McLarens are pretty notorious for spinning out,’ Michael said (screengrab from livestream of Jack moments before crash)
The YouTuber’s friend Michael David, who was sitting in the passenger seat, could be seen with blood streaming down his face and had to be taken to hospital (photo taken from livestream)
‘He saw that he was not seriously injured,’ he said. ‘Like he wasn’t dying. Of course, he was injured. He had some injuries to his eye and that is when I told Jack to hand the camera to me so he can go and get treated. And, you know, he went and got treated.’
According to Michael, his brother has learned his lesson and was ‘scolded’ by his parents. He said that he won’t play with supercars again and definitely won’t be livestreaming while driving.
‘Me my mom, my dad, all of our family gave him a big scolding,’ Michael said.
‘He 100 percent learned his lesson. I mean on camera he’s a lot different than when he’s off camera. As soon as the camera turned off he was crying.
‘We were all crying. I was crying to him, saying “I don’t want to be burying my brother.” This could be a totally different outcome. I think it hit a nerve a little bit.’
He added: ‘He wants to get rid of his cars now, and he, even, you know, told my dad “You know you were right about the cars. They’re dangerous and they’re not just a toy.” He learned his lesson without having to die,’ Michael insisted.
Michael said he doesn’t believe his brother should have his license revoked, claiming having the car taken away has already impacted his income.
‘I don’t think his license should get taken away, but I think he already learned a big lesson with the car getting taken away and the kick like his source of income being taken away.’
Jack accompanied his passenger to the hospital and shared this photo on Instagram. Michael told DailyMail.com: ‘He saw that he was not seriously injured. Like he wasn’t dying’
Jack has since been banned from Kick for violating safety guidelines, which some believe relates to him being seen reading the live chat section of his stream whilst driving just seconds before the crash.
Jack, who is originally from Long Island, New York but now lives in Los Angeles, California, has 14.9million YouTube subscribers.
He gained his large following of mostly teenage boys for his pranks, stunts and challenge videos which are often filmed in public places, like his Floor is Lava challenges in Walmart and Target.
Jack has recently received a backlash for allegedly antagonizing people for the sake of engaging content before running to hide behind his security guards to prevent the people he is provoking from touching him.
Earlier this year, Jack and his bodyguard, Kane Kongg, were served legal papers and are being sued by a man who claimed he was punched by Kongg – whose legal name is Justin Goslee.
The car crash comes 10 months after Jack flipped a golf buggy over while his girlfriend was in the passenger seat and posted the footage to his YouTube channel.
His brother Michael – an openly gay influencer in his own right – boasts a massive following on his OnlyFans.
