80 people busted in Kent for illegal racing (http://www.komonews.com/news/25939099.html)

KENT - Eighty people were arrested and seven vehicles impounded as police cracked down on illegal street racing in a parking lot just after midnight on Saturday.

Kent police and Washington State Patrol troopers made the raid after observing the racing event from a distance. It was taking place in the parking lot of a private business which was posted “No Trespassing.”

Officers swooped down at 12:10 a.m. with lights flashing, stopping all 37 vehicles involved in racing or attending illegal races. All 80 occupants were arrested, said Paul Petersen of the Kent police.

Two persons were booked into Kent Jail on suspicion of DUI and their vehicles were impounded. Four persons were arrested on suspicion of reckless driving and racing.

Citations were issued to all 80 arrestees for trespassing and attendance at illegal racing. Several citations were issued for driving on a suspended license.

Kent police impounded a total of six cars and one motorcycle.

Seven persons arrested were juveniles. They were each released to a parent and charges will be forwarded to the King County Juvenile Court.

Street racing is illegal and dangerous, and race attendance is a crime in the city of Kent, Petersen said. He said almost all of the cited persons are from the Puget Sound area, but not from Kent.

"There are too many examples of injury and death caused by street racing in Western Washington," said Lt. Ken Thomas of the Kent police. “We must continue to enforce the laws regarding this dangerous activity. Our goal is to make the streets of Kent safe for everyone.”


Kinda like that beginning scene from Fast and the Furious. I'm really surprised that they were busted for street racing on private property - it should've been trespassing instead, no?

Good thing most of my friends and I stopped going.
I live just up the hill and it's still a big issue, I remember in June they taped off the entrances of the Chevron and last time I checked they bring in SWAT once in a while.

yeah street racing is still a very big deal. that is why at our meet and greet people should do anything to make them think it is a street race. we have that against us. anytime you get a group of people together. you are going to get cops thinking it is a street race. in marysville we get one or so cop cars showing up and sit around every time we meet.

as for the tickets on this one cops moved in on the tresspassing. but had watched them street race from what i read. they probably blocked the entrance of the property to make sure no one escaped. bet they got mod tickets as well. pretty stupid of them to even race on private property. go to a damn track if you want to race.

I'm glad they're cracking down on this. Street racing is stupid.

Wow pretty interesting.

yep at the Tacoma Mall it is gettign dangerous as well.......I have watched several of our security cameras andit is out of hand on Fridays and Saturdays......and they leave every few minutes in packs and go race then come back........and then spend the night flipping donuts in the lot.........Cops need to shut it down there as well before somebody gets hurt or killed.........shame all the nice cars and they are trashing them........

Agreed.......take it to a track where it is so much safer to do this........not bullet proof........but at least when it goes wrong innocent people do not get hurt or killed by some idiot.......

It goes in waves...someone gets hurt they crackdown, racers move to a different area, repeat...until there are viable options like small tracks open on Fri-Sunday, or like back in the day where they used to close down Golden Gardens, police there on site to ensure safety, and let the kids run in a more controlled environment this will not stop. I have been to the hearings, meetings and what-not about this and it is not going to stop, it will just merely go somewhere else....

I wonder what parking lot they could find that was big enough to street race that still appeared secluded enough to where people wouldn't see them. It sounds to me like 80 really dumb people..

Well, speaking as someone who does go to the races, it seems like the city would rather just pay more cops to patrol than to put money towards keeping Pacific open late for us. Hence why they even had a plane watching over head.

I hear most of you saying that it's stupid and to keep it at the track,... but at the same time why would people pay for track time when they can get it for free? Plus the fact that some cars aren't extremely fast so they wouldn't want to waste their money on the track but would rather just do a quick run against another car. And then Pacific is never open late so what else do people do. Street race!

But also a big part of the night racing problem is the spectators and that's all thanks to The Fast and the Furious. I'd say more than half of the cars that I see going to the meet up locations are just people who want to watch and those people are the ones who cause problems because they usually bring some type of drama. Whether it be baby momma drama or "your homie got beef wit me."

So maybe if the track was open late the real racers would come and race and the posers would go home, end of problem?

you always going to have street racing. like it has been said you will never ever stop that.

problem with tracks and opening up to try and cut down on the racing is that if one person gets hurt. that person parents are not going to just say my kid was at fault. nope they are going to go after the track for being open. no track owner wants that. that is why they will not open it up unless someone sponcers something. that way the sponcer will get the law suit not the track owner. kids who say my parents will never do that. but in reality they will in a heartbeat.

as for the drama issue. umm that will never die either. you have that in schools heck car shows umm the malls. till people realize that peoples opinion do not matter and not worth killing or fighting for. you going to have drama, fights and shootings.

people who get hurt are not the ones who were in the area for the race. they are the people driving somehwere when the racers hit them. if you truely watched fast and the furious you will see that they blocked the streets off with cars and driveways. but people do not pick up on that part. nor do they do that in real life.

to actually do something like this and get a track open late night you would need to get parents involved. the tracks laywers to draw up a waver for the parents to sign or if the kid is over 18 to sign. releasing all liablity from the track or track owners. then and only then would you get tracks to think about opening up. but no perent wants thier kid out at a track racing. they will also not sign any paper that says they are responsible for that kid and not the track or track owner.

I hear most of you saying that it's stupid and to keep it at the track,... but at the same time why would people pay for track time when they can get it for free? Plus the fact that some cars aren't extremely fast so they wouldn't want to waste their money on the track but would rather just do a quick run against another car. And then Pacific is never open late so what else do people do. Street race!

Why pay people for track time when they can get it for free?

- Safety. It's safer for cars involved and not involved in the races and it's safer for any bystanders in the area. I've seen plenty of videos of street races gone wrong.

- People racing up and down streets show no respect for the people in the area and are douchebags in my eyes.

- It's legal to race on a track.

- On a track you get a slip with all of your cars stats which actually proves something as opposed to street racing which doesn't prove anything.

- People who don't race on tracks ARE posers. Period.

I remember back in the day cops coming into crack down and i was the last car to bust out of the parking lot and had a cop right behind me and i blew a stop sign and got on the freeway. The cop went the opposite way after another car. Not my proudest moment but yeah I stopped going. Its dangerous and not worth the ticket to watch a race.

I wonder what parking lot they could find that was big enough to street race that still appeared secluded enough to where people wouldn't see them. It sounds to me like 80 really dumb people..

We used to line up on 4 lane road and watch cars roll down the road. I know once I had a bad feeling about it and I peaced out early. As i was leaving cops were rolling deep coming opposite way so I had just left at the right time.

The best nights was going 40 miles away from teh meet up spot to an area past North Bend and people could race till 6am with no problem. THat was way back in the day when I didnt realize how dumb races were.

I like being a responsible adult now :-) well for the most part

They opened a race day or something like that here at PIR I think to try to help curb this....not sure if it is still around haven't heard much about it...but it is rather stupid....good way to get busted and/or killed in my opinion.

Why pay people for track time when they can get it for free?

- Safety. It's safer for cars involved and not involved in the races and it's safer for any bystanders in the area. I've seen plenty of videos of street races gone wrong.

- People racing up and down streets show no respect for the people in the area and are douchebags in my eyes.

- It's legal to race on a track.

- On a track you get a slip with all of your cars stats which actually proves something as opposed to street racing which doesn't prove anything.

- People who don't race on tracks ARE posers. Period.


There should be no one in the area unless they are there to race or watch, because it is in an industrial business area, if they cared so much they should just sit there and wait for us then. Nights when I'm out, we only have about 5-10 cars with us, people we know. So we never have issues of stupid bystanders getting in the way. If other cars try following us to a track, we ditch them. Everyone is free to voice their own opinion, this is mine. Maybe if they opened up the track late at night it'll weed out the slow dumb cars from coming and the cars that are worth while will be out.

if you voiced your thoughts and concerns to the track in your area and maybe started a petition they might open the tracks later.. At PIR we have the late night drags on fridays during the summer..

Your very true in you can voice your opionion but the safety issue is also for you in watching your friends race.. It only takes a second for one of those cars thats racing to break loose and hit you and the people watching.. there was a race a year ago or so, where people were standing on the sides out of the way watching their friends race.. A car broke loose and killed a few people..

also your insurance doesn't cover damage/injuries if they find out it was illegal racing.. going to a track you can buy special coverage.. my parents had a friend go out to track day sponsored by a local corvette club, he decided to take his friends porsche on the track.. lost control of the car and cause 500k in damage to the track and other cars that were around... his ordinary insurance wouldn't pay, his special coverage covered almost all of it..
so keeping it to the track in the long run is safer and way cheaper

There should be no one in the area unless they are there to race or watch, because it is in an industrial business area, if they cared so much they should just sit there and wait for us then. Nights when I'm out, we only have about 5-10 cars with us, people we know. So we never have issues of stupid bystanders getting in the way. If other cars try following us to a track, we ditch them. Everyone is free to voice their own opinion, this is mine. Maybe if they opened up the track late at night it'll weed out the slow dumb cars from coming and the cars that are worth while will be out.

The cars that are worth while will be at a racetrack, not an industrial park. Street racing doesn't prove anything. A timeslip does tho.

My opinion?

Street racing is for idiots and "posers" too bad the cops didn't arrest every single one of them, I'd be more than happy to pay taxes to keep idiots like that locked up.

^x2. Here's mine:

Street racing has been around a long time and unfortunately will forever, but now the cars are faster and lighter, and the kids are getting dumber and dumber...

If you are participating in illegal activity that is your decision, you can't point the finger at anyone else, especially not the cops who are out doing their jobs and trying to keep the streets safe. Even tho some racers might be great drivers, they are being a bad example by doing so in public.

Be responsible, take it to the track!

80 people busted in Kent for illegal racing (http://www.komonews.com/news/25939099.html)

Kinda like that beginning scene from Fast and the Furious. I'm really surprised that they were busted for street racing on private property - it should've been trespassing instead, no?

No, not tresspassing. Reckless driving is a gross misdemeanor not a traffic violation, it's a criminal offense right up there with DUI.

well i have a story to tell but LONG story short, the k9 unit let us go, as long as we promised to stay out of kent for the night. he also told us that he COULD take us to jail for criminal tresspassing to loitering in the staples parking lot.

What were u guys doing Tyler? Last thing I need is a freaking loitering ticket at a meet $ greet :doh:

yeah we were eating at the jack in the box right next door, and that lot was full of street racers so we went to the staples to eat our burgers, there were abunch of other racers there as well, so we were eating and a cop rolls in, everyone BUT my brother and i leave, so the cop comes over and gets our licenses, run out info and stuff and then tells us "look we all know why youre here, its illegal. i want you to get out of kent for the night, if i hear your license plates or names over the radio im coming after you for criminal tresspassing" so he gave us our licenses back and we left kent. and yes, its true we did all know what we were doing there and it wasnt ONLY for the burgers :) but the races sure aint what they use to be, i remember 3 years ago people actually raced, not just loiter around staples and chevron, now the kent PD have their helicopter and stuff. its wack. if the track was open fri/sat/sun for street legals then i would be there. unfortunately thats not the case :( but i have stayed out of kent since that warning, ill be moving to renton (like 3 seconds from kent) in 6 months so well see what happens.

^oh, ok..SHAME ON U! :silly:

interesting....but street racing is bad!!!
:)

yes maam. im bad. and streetracing is bad, but i dont race, i think its fun to go checkout the cars and stuff.

yeah we were eating at the jack in the box right next door, and that lot was full of street racers so we went to the staples to eat our burgers, there were abunch of other racers there as well, so we were eating and a cop rolls in, everyone BUT my brother and i leave, so the cop comes over and gets our licenses, run out info and stuff and then tells us "look we all know why youre here, its illegal. i want you to get out of kent for the night, if i hear your license plates or names over the radio im coming after you for criminal tresspassing" so he gave us our licenses back and we left kent. and yes, its true we did all know what we were doing there and it wasnt ONLY for the burgers :) but the races sure aint what they use to be, i remember 3 years ago people actually raced, not just loiter around staples and chevron, now the kent PD have their helicopter and stuff. its wack. if the track was open fri/sat/sun for street legals then i would be there. unfortunately thats not the case :( but i have stayed out of kent since that warning, ill be moving to renton (like 3 seconds from kent) in 6 months so well see what happens.

You'll be living by me. During the night you'll be hearing vrooom vroom noises. I hear them mostly from 405.

I'm confused. You know, maybe I'm missing something since I've never been to one of these "meets" before, but I imagine the majority of the people that attend are high school kids prattling on about how great their Civic with a poorly-fitting body kit is, and then driving really fast in my immediate proximity with no protection. Not exactly my idea of a great time. I'm picturing the same groups of kids whose idea of a good time is loitering outside a fast food restaurant for hours, except now you throw in reckless driving late at night. If I'm wrong, someone correct me.

I've also never felt the need to go racing so badly that it couldn't wait for a track day, or at least a test and tune that I could dick around at. Seriously, most major cities have at least SOMETHING going on every week where you can go and flog your car to your heart's content.

^it's just people being dumb, irresponsible, and disregard of human life...plus it's a glorified lifestyle in Japan and of course, it caught on over here.

It's unfortunate that the idiots getting caught or worse the fatalities, will eventually ruin it for the rest of us who mod our cars for show, personal preference, track, etc.