Evo Street Racers: Enforcement News: Prime Minister pledges to tackle street racing

Race cars impounded, crushed Southern California cracks down on street racers

Source: KABC-TV
Author: Bob Banfield
Date: June 21, 2007

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RIALTO, California -- Six cars were crushed at a Southern California recycling plant Wednesday morning. The cars were impounded during illegal street races in San Bernardino County.

Some of the registered owners were actually there to see their cars reduced to scrap.

It can take a lot of time and a lot of money invested into building street racers, but they can be legally destroyed in just a few seconds.

Proof of that statement was on display in Rialto, California Wednesday morning, where several impounded cars were crushed and stacked atop each other.

Enforcement efforts against both organized and impromptu street racing is having some success. Racing often leads to death or injury. At that Rialto dismantling yard, police say, something positive is being done about it.

Cpl. Jeff Higbee is with the Ontario Police Department. "We had 13 people killed in street racing collisions in the last three months. Of those 13 people that were killed, only two of them were actually driving the race cars. The other 11 people were either passengers, pedestrians, or innocent motorists in other cars."

Six vehicles were destroyed. They were impounded by a street racing enforcement team, fronted by Ontario police and supported by a number of area agencies.

"All of the cars have either illegal transmission, or an illegal engine in them. We went through the criminal process on the cases that we could. All of the cars have been through a civil process, for having numbers removed or stolen parts in them. And they've been ordered to be crushed," Higbee noted.

Charles Hoang, 20, of Cupertino, was cited for street racing. He was on hand to see his car crushed.

"I learned my lesson, but I may end up opening a car shop doing this. I'll never stop any kind of racing stuff. I'll take it to the track. No more streets. I learned my lesson on the streets. You don't want to race with all those tickets on the streets."

Officials say there are some legal drag strips open to drivers who want to test their cars against other cars, and they suggest that racers use them.

In the long run, it would be far safer and far less expensive.