Driscoll: Kurt Busch 'needs help'
The woman alleged by Kurt Busch to be a trained assassin dispatched on covert missions around the world said Wednesday that she is worried about the NASCAR driver's mental state.
Busch, appearing in court over a request for a no-contact order, testified Tuesday that he still believed that Patricia Driscoll, his ex-girlfriend, is a hired killer. He repeatedly asserted her assassin status during the four-day trial and claimed the work took her on missions across Central and South America and Africa, including recalling that she once returned to him in a blood-spattered gown.
On Wednesday, Driscoll told ESPN in a statement that Busch's recollections were "straight from the script" she has been working on the past seven years for a movie about a female CIA operative.
"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," Driscoll said in the statement. "Since day one I have stood by my statements that my motive was not greed but in fact concern for the man I loved. I have previously shared my concerns for Mr. Busch's mental state since the onset of this case only to be dismissed by his legal team.
"Perhaps now his family and those around him recognize his fragile state and will provide him the mental health care and support he needs. He clearly believes fiction is reality and that's all the more reason he needs help."
Busch, who continued the push of his legal team to discredit his ex as a scorned woman out to destroy his career, testified Monday that he decided to end his relationship with Driscoll after a race in the fall because she was monopolizing his schedule and he needed to focus on racing.
Driscoll said Busch assaulted her in his motorhome at Dover International Speedway a week later, 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 cross-examined Busch on Tuesday, but few of her questions dealt directly with the assault allegations. 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.
McNeice said in a statement Wednesday that Busch's story "fell apart" and that he "is a guy who clearly has an anger problem."
"He first publicly claimed nothing happened and by the end he's testifying to putting his hands on Ms. Driscoll and 'maybe' tapping her head against the wall," McNeice said in the statement. "... He's an abuser and he needs to be punished."
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.
