By Wade Keller, Torch editor

Nick Hogan's defense attorney released a video that he claims shows Nick was not drag racing at the time of the August crash that left John Graziano, his passenger and friend, comatose since.

The lawyer, Kwevin Haslett, says the Dodge Viper that Nick was supposedly "drag racing" was stuck behind a stalled car at the time Nick crashed.

Haslett makes the case that it's important that police know that witnesses upon whom authorities have built their case against Nick were mistaken about that detail, which perhaps draws into question other details they've provided.

He says: ""This video is so important because there are people that law enforcement relied upon who said that Nick was driving a particular way on this particular stretch of road. They are claiming that he was speeding during that time period, driving recklessly, losing control of his car. One witness even claims he got to the intersection on Missouri Avenue and Court Street and had to slam on his brakes and nearly went into oncoming traffic. The allegation of street racing is totally inconsistent with the video. If there is any race going on, even if the Viper was in a race, Nick wouldn't know he was in it because he was so far ahead. That videotape is a complete 180 from what people claim happened."

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TMZ.com's Article (Note the reader comments below which are largely negative toward the p.r. approach the Hogan family has taken. For instance, "I think it's sad that the Hogan statement posted yesterday made sure to mention that Nick Hogan was wearing his seatbelt but that poor former Marine was not. At this point, why does it matter. Due to Nick's history of speeding citations, I don't feel bad for the kid. I have a whole different opinion of the Hogan family now." And: "This video proves nothing. A war vet is in the hospital with life altering injuries and they expect for anyone to believe it was a "slow speed crash"? All this video proves is that who ever was driving the silver car accused of racing with Nick has no cupability in the crime, that nick was responsible for it all by himself. I for one thank his lawyer and family for being so dumb. We now all know it was indeed Nicks fault."

Meanwhile, Tampa Bay's 10 website reports on how the video was obtained - with a local business owner saying that his employee who handed over the tape believed it was local law enforcement officials. He says he asked the defense attorney to hand over the tape to local officials, but he refused, saying it would be required during the discovery phase. The local authorities did get a copy, though, since the local business owner had an extra copy. "They were here in two hours when I told them we obtained a copy of the DVD," he says.

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