Local news in the sacramento bee.
Video Inside.
http://www.sacbee.com/749/story/1010580.html
Article:
Illegal racing autos crushed
A 1995 black Acura Integra was stacked on top of a partially flattened 1991 white Honda Civic hatchback in the orange compactor at the Pick-n-Pull.
With the push of a button, the two vehicles were crushed into black-and-white metal pancakes.
Law enforcement authorities destroyed the two impounded vehicles, which were modified for street racing, Thursday at the auto dismantler facility in Rancho Cordova.
It was the first time police in Northern California have used this tactic to deter street racers.
"We're taking away their ability to do it," said Elk Grove Police Sgt. Mike Iannone.
The cars were crushed before a crowd of more than 50 onlookers. Photographers and TV cameras captured the spectacle.
Iannone said both vehicles had stolen engines. Police can seek a court order to crush cars under a California vehicle code section that allows cars to be destroyed if they have parts with identification numbers that have been removed or defaced.
The Elk Grove Police Department, which launched a series of anti-street racing initiatives in 2006, serves as Northern California coordinator for Drag-Net, a California Office of Traffic Safety program that trains officers about street racing and how to spot modified vehicles.
Iannone said the Sacramento effort is modeled on one by the Ontario Police Department in Southern California, which began crushing cars in early 2007.
Ontario police marked the kickoff of the Northern California program by providing the white Civic, which they stopped in 2007, finding it had an engine stolen from an Acura.
Rancho Cordova police stopped the Integra in 2006 because the height of its headlights had been modified. It was found to have a stolen transmission and engine.
Iannone said a court order was issued to crush the Civic, while the owner of the Acura forfeited his vehicle to Rancho Cordova police before the process was even begun.
Racers often blow up or burn out parts, fueling the theft of cars for replacements, Ontario police Detective Jeff Higbee said in a phone interview this week.
Iannone said the strong deterrent of crushing cars is necessary because it has become more difficult to catch street racers. In the past, races were organized, often taking place at night at an appointed time and place. Now, they are impromptu contests in which racers weave in and out of congested traffic, sometimes leading to tragic collisions.
Chris Cochran, assistant director of the Office of Traffic Safety, estimated that at least 100 people are killed in California each year as a result of illegal street racing.
A street race between two Bella Vista High School students led to the death of 53-year-old Susan McNew of Shingle Springs on Jan. 13, 2007. One student's car slammed McNew's car as she left the Folsom Premium Outlets.
Iannone said he has three to five vehicles that he plans to ask the Elk Grove city attorney to seek court orders to destroy.
"They're adding chaos to our chaotic roadways," he said.
Civic&integra Crushed!
