Aug 13, 2008 12:18 am US/Eastern
Rockefeller Limo Driver: I Believed Him
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
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Darryl Hopkins drove the SUV that picked up Clark Rockefeller on Marlborough Street the day that Rockefeller allegedly kidnapped his daughter.
WBZ
The limousine driver hired by Clark Rockefeller when he allegedly kidnapped his daughter last month says he didn't know what he was getting himself into.
Darryl Hopkins said he believed Rockefeller was who he said he was.
"Totally," Hopkins said. "Everything about him, the way he talked. He talks kind of like Thurston Howell the Third."
Hopkins drove but asked few questions, until it all came clear hours later what he'd unwittingly been a part of on July 27.
Now he's revealing details not heard before about how nervous he was, wanting to cover his tracks before going to Boston police with his story about the alleged kidnapping of Reigh Storrow Boss.
Hopkins said when he was hired for the job he was originally told he was driving to Newport, R.I., so Rockefeller could meet former Sen. Chaffee's son. And when he pulled away on Marlborough Street in Boston with a social worker clinging to his car, he said he was told it was a gay friend that Rockefeller wanted to lose.
Hopkins said the man held onto the car for only seconds, and when he looked in his rear-view mirror the social worker was on his knees but was OK.
What was Rockefeller saying?
"Go, go, go, go, go" Hopkins replied.
It was more than 24 hours before Hopkins went to Boston police, and now he's worried he's in trouble with the law himself. He knew police were looking for his car, a black sport utility vehicle described in the Amber Alert as having Red Sox plates and Red Sox stickers.
Hopkins said the SUV had only one sticker on the right side window, which he removed before heading to police headquarters.
"I didn't want to get apprehended while driving," he said. "I wanted to get all the way to headquarters and walk in the door."
Asked why he delayed, Hopkins said he was "scared, just plain scared."
Now he's hired an attorney, hoping not to be charged with being an accessory after the fact, though there's no indication yet from the district attorney that charges are a possibility.
But Hopkins said he's been caught in a web of lies that's bad for his limo business.
"Nobody wants to be associated with anybody who's this much in the news," he said.
Hopkins also said he drove Clark Rockefeller to New York City two days before the alleged kidnapping for what Rockefeller said was a board meeting. Now he thinks that was all part of Rockefeller's grand plan.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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