By Ray Huard [email protected]
Source:
Spectators could face jail or fines
Copyright: Union-Tribune
San Diego, CA - Measure targets watchers of illegal drag races
Spectators at illegal street races could be arrested and jailed for up to six months or fined up to $1,000 under a proposed law adopted in a preliminary vote yesterday by the San Diego City Council.
"Street racers are criminals who are risking the lives of San Diegans, and spectators are aiding and abetting that activity," said Mayor Dick Murphy.
A final vote on the measure is expected next week, and City Attorney Casey Gwinn said it could take effect immediately if it is passed as an emergency measure.
The council's unanimous vote on the proposed law yesterday comes a little more than a week after two 19-year old El Cajon youths were killed on Imperial Avenue in San Diego when the compact car they were riding in was struck by an illegal street racer. The driver of one of the two street-racing cars involved in the incident has been arrested and charged with two counts of second-degree murder.
"The people who are doing this are sick; it's just sick to go out on the street," Councilman George Stevens said of the illegal racing.
So far this year, seven people have been killed within the city of San Diego from illegal street racing, and 15 people have been killed countywide, said assistant police Chief William Maheu.
"The illegal street racers have made the streets of San Diego unsafe for all of us because of their criminal activity," said Gwinn, who championed the proposal to make it illegal to attend street races.
Gwinn said the city and county of Los Angeles and the city of Ontario have enacted similar laws making it illegal to attend street races.
Former street racer Jeff Milton of Poway said making it a crime to attend street races would lessen the incentive to race on city streets because there would be fewer people cheering the racers.
"That is why a lot of the racers race, to show off their cars � 'Hey, look at me, I'm cool,' " Milton said.
Some parents whose children have died as a result of illegal street racing said the city must do whatever it can to get racers off city streets and provide legal locations for them to race.
"I just wonder why something wasn't done about this sooner," said Peggy Klein-Martinez, whose 17-year-old daughter was killed in an illegal street race earlier this year. She said the proposed law against attending such races "is a tool that the city can use to stop those street races, and we don't have to lose any more children like my daughter."
Aside from the direct risk other motorists face from street racers, city firefighter/paramedic Carrie Fisher said racers often block the entrance to a fire station on Carroll Canyon Road in Sorrento Valley.
Besides cracking down on illegal racing, council members Byron Wear and Jim Madaffer said the city must work to provide legal alternatives to street racing.
Currently, legal races are sponsored by San Diego State University on Friday nights in the Qualcomm Stadium parking lot under the RaceLegal.com name.
Councilwoman Donna Frye said that in the meantime, racers should not misread the city's search for legal sites as condoning illegal races.
"I do not believe the lack of a legal race venue condones illegal activity," Frye said. "It's not an excuse; it's not acceptable to me."
