Busch's ex claims assassin allegations come from movie plots
Patricia Driscoll requests no contact order for NASCAR driver, accuses him of assault
DOVER, Del. – The ex-girlfriend of Kurt Busch told Fox News the NASCAR driver is a violent alcoholic and denied his claims that she is a highly-trained assassin who has carried out covert hits around the world.
Patricia Driscoll, who dated Busch for several years before they broke up last fall, said the claims she was a mercenary who inspired a character in the film "Zero Dark Thirty" seem to be a product of Busch's flawed mental state and her work on a screenplay. And she stood by her claim that Bush, whose nickname is "The Outlaw," got physical with her in a confrontation in September.
"Over the past 7 years I have worked on a movie script with producers about a female CIA operative and her work on classified missions for the U.S.," Driscoll told Fox News. "Mr. Busch's statements in court serve to confirm my belief that he needs professional counseling to deal with his alcoholism and issues of depression."
Busch testified in a Delaware courtroom court on Tuesday under examination by his attorney, Rusty Hardin, that he believes Driscoll is a hired killer.
"Everybody on the outside can tell me I'm crazy, but I lived on the inside and saw it firsthand," Busch said.
The appearance came as a judge considered Driscoll's request for a no-contact order. Busch's legal team sought to discredit her as a scorned woman out to destroy his career.
Busch said Tuesday Driscoll repeatedly asserted her assassin status and claimed the work took her on missions across Central and South America and Africa. He recounted one time when the couple was in El Paso, Texas. He said Driscoll left in camouflage gear only to return later wearing a trench coat over an evening gown covered with blood.
Earlier, Busch said his ex-girlfriend told him she was a mercenary who killed people for a living and had shown him pictures of bodies with gunshot wounds. He told of a trip the pair took to El Paso, and said Driscoll left their hotel room in camouflage gear only to return later wearing a trench coat over an evening gown covered with blood.
Driscoll is an authored and has worked for Frontline Defense Systems, a security consulting company whose clients include governments and private sector companies. She claims Busch assaulted her in his motorhome at Dover International Speedway last fall, grabbing her by the throat and slamming her head into a wall three times. Busch and his attorneys have denied the allegations, which are the subject of a separate criminal investigation.
Driscoll's attorney, Carolyn McNeice, noted that Busch's assistant, Kristy Cloutier, testified and Busch admitted that the race car driver drunkenly assaulted Cloutier outside of Wrigley Field at a Yankees Cubs game in 2011. The incident lends credence to Driscoll's claims that Busch attacked her, McNiece said.
“This is a guy who clearly has an anger problem," the attorney said.
Last month, Michael Doncheff, who served as a personal assistant to Busch and Driscoll, said an ailing Driscoll told him in September that she had been picked up by a big man and slammed to the ground while helping round up immigrants at the Mexican border, a story Doncheff considered "far-fetched."
Doncheff said Driscoll also asserted that she was a trained assassin for the U.S. government and once told him, "I take down foreign governments. I own Washington."
Busch has testified that he repeatedly told Driscoll to leave after she showed up unannounced at his motorhome, finally cupping her cheeks in his hands, looking her in the eye and telling her she had to go.
"He advised that her head tapped the wall as he was doing that," Detective James Wood testified Tuesday, recounting Busch's interview with Dover police in November.
Richard Andrew Sniffen, a Christian music minister who performs at NASCAR outreach events and befriended Busch and Driscoll, said Driscoll told him on the night of the alleged assault only that Busch had pushed her and that she hit her head. Sniffen said Driscoll was upset, angry and brokenhearted, but that she never said she was afraid of Busch and seemed intent on reconciling.
That attitude shifted in the weeks that followed, Sniffen said, with Driscoll going "from a broken heart looking for love and reconciliation to anger and a little bit of revenge."
"I will destroy him," Sniffen said Driscoll told him, adding that she repeatedly said she would take Busch down.
A court ruling on Driscoll's request for a no-contact order is expected later this month or in early February.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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