The glamorous wife of a Getty oil heir has been accused of smashing her Porsche into a parked car — while looking for her glasses — leaving a senior with a traumatic brain injury.
Vanessa Getty, the wife of billionaire oil magnate Billy Getty, allegedly crashed her Porsche Taycan electric sports car — which cost as much as $100,000 — into Mary Riley’s parked Mercedes in San Francisco on March 28, 2024.
“Suddenly and without warning a vehicle driven by Defendant Vanessa Louise Getty violently crashed into Plaintiff’s parked vehicle,” reads Riley’s June 18 lawsuit filed in San Francisco Superior Court.
Getty “failed to use reasonable care” and was “negligent” when she was driving near the intersection of Divisadero Street and Lombard Street when she collided into Riley’s 2008 Mercedes-Benz CLK 550, the suit and Riley’s lawyer claim. Riley was getting into her car at the time.
Riley, 66, suffered “orthopedic injuries and a traumatic brain injury,” the filing alleges.
Her lawyer, Quinton Cutlip, told the San Francisco Standard that Getty admitted to cops at the scene that she “had been distracted because she was looking for her glasses.”
Getty “was apologetic at the scene,” the lawyer said.
Riley was brought to the hospital and she continues to receive treatment “for injuries she suffered in the collision,” Cutlip said.
The San Francisco Fire Department confirmed that both cars were towed away and that one person was taken to the hospital.
Riley is suing for unspecified damages.
“This will all work itself out through the civil litigation process and trial, if necessary,” Cutlip told the outlet.
Getty, 52, married Billy Getty — the grandson of oil tycoon Jean Paul Getty — in 1999 and she shares three children with him.
Vanessa Getty, a philanthropist, is often seen at exclusive events. She was once a trustee at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and she founded the animal charity San Francisco Bay Humane Friends.
She has been a prominent donor for Democratic campaigns including for Vice President Kamala Harris who is the godmother of one of Getty’s kids.
Getty didn’t immediately return a request for comment Wednesday afternoon.
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