Police Raid Car Enthusiast Gathering

[Stoopid Wendy]

California: Police Raid Car Enthusiast Gathering, Generate Revenue

California: Police Raid Car Enthusiast Gathering, Generate Revenue

Police raid Riverside, California parking lot to issue modified car tickets at local car enthusiast gathering.

Using $503,000 in federal and state gas tax revenue to pay for overtime, nine police agencies in Riverside, California sent more than one hundred police officers to surround a gathering of automotive enthusiasts. Owners of imported sport compact cars had gathered at the Canyon Crossing shopping center on Friday night to swap stories, talk about their passion for cars and show off the latest enhancements to their rides. At around 11pm police surprised participants by blocking all exits with fifty police cruisers. Officers then began a warrantless search and interrogation operation of the 150 vehicles that were present.

"If you're not into street racing, why would you need that?" Riverside Police Traffic Sergeant Skip Showalter asked an enthusiast during a similar crackdown last year. "Why would you want more power going to your car?"

Police issued a total of forty-eight tickets for "engine modifications" with police accusing the owners of the parked vehicles of being street racers. Another fifty tickets were issued for paperwork violations, dark window tinting and lack of a front license plate. The most revenue, however, will be generated from the fees imposed on twenty vehicles that were confiscated. Despite labeling the parking lot raid as taking place at a "street racing venue," Riverside Police offered no evidence that any street racing actually took place.

Across the state, gas tax funds are regularly used to fund similar crackdowns that generate big revenue. In 2004, the California Highway Patrol issued a total of 101,553 "modified car" citations worth $10.5 million according to CHP data obtained by TheNewspaper.

Other law enforcement agencies participating in Friday night's raid included the California Highway Patrol, Riverside County Sheriff's Department, and police from Baldwin Park, Fontana, Irwindale, Moreno Valley, Ontario and Mount San Jacinto Community College.

[slow poke]

that sucks !!!!!
glad i don't live in cali !!!!!!

[shinmei2006]

it was prolly just a parking lot full of ricers

[Badlatitude]

and as much as they want to write how they are innocent. thoose Fk tards rev their motors , do burn outs , drift around , crash into each other , smoke pot , drink , blast their systems and act like little assholes. Look at how many single ricer retards ya see in any given week. imagine a hundred of em togather!!! If i lived in that town id prob be happy.

My cousin almost killed some kid 2 weeks ago on our street( which is a quiet road that only gets delivery and resident traffic). This kid in a white turbo civic made 1 pass down the street at WELL OVER 75 mph with bass blasting and was still accelerating then turned around and did it again. then stopped at another ricers house at the end of the street. My cousin took off after him in the dually , blocked his car and ripped him out the window. Not only was the shit rediculas for a street bairly 2 cars can pass on but there are well over a dozen kids between the ages of like 6 and 10-12 that live on the street and play all the time. this little faggotdidnt even slow down passing them. BTW most people drive about 10-15 mph down the street

[ShakinIt]

Originally Posted by Badlatitude

and as much as they want to write how they are innocent. thoose Fk tards rev their motors , do burn outs , drift around , crash into each other , smoke pot , drink , blast their systems and act like little assholes.

Exactly.

"Owners of imported sport compact cars"

Sounds like it was a little 2 fast 2 furious douchebag gathering......


At the same time though, that many officers does seem a bit excessive.....I mean, are ricers the worst criminals California has?? Really? Nothing worse to concentrate that much manpower on?

[plazma]

Not sure why they paid overtime. Didn't they have enough planning to work it out so it didn't cost the tax payers and additional half million.

If they didn't waste money in such ways they wouldn't have to write a bunch of ticket to cover it. Figure a half million dollars is like 3,333 tickets at $150 each.

[BAMF]

Its California. What the hell do you expect?

[Adrenalin]

Ricers or no ricers, that shit is F'd. If it's okay to block them in then why wouldn't it be okay to block the domestic crowd in. I personally think that the raid, according to the story, is lame, no matter how much the stupid punks pull that fast and furious bs.

[blacksheep-1]

Clearwater PD use to pull that crap over here, the problem was they started screwing with middle age muscle car guys who were doing stuff like collecting money for crippled kids (I was in on that one) Once the politicians realized thay were screwing with people who had some influence they called them off.

[racingrick]

as much as I hate rice (unless it comes with eggrolls) that is f'ed if that is the whole story!

if not, what happened to make the cops do this? and now..........the rest of the story.................?

[riverviewnative]

Back in the day they tried that shit down here with a little mud boggin goin on. Nothing like having the tables turned on the cops. And it was very gratifing to pull a cruiser out of the mud.

[95coBraSVT]

Yep...This same shit happened to me before when I used to street race. The muscle car crowd was all fine and good....Hell, the cops would come over and converse with us and then drive away. Afterwards, we would have a couple races....Life was good. Then F n F came out and every ricer on the street thought he could take on an 11 second muscle car. When they found they couldn't win, they brought more of their friends. (Well,, if I can't beat you, then I bet my friend can. Dumbasses) Eventually, it was muscle on one side of the street, and rice on the other. Then they started with bringing out the crack....and the guns....and the whores...and the pot...and the booze...and the stupidity. The last one was the straw that broke the proverbial camels back. When they started doing e-brake doughnuts in the parking lots and leaving trash all over and breaking into the places we were parked at, the cops came down...HARD! The would block us ALL in, and we would ALL get tickets for SOMETHING. The cops got to my car and found that the exhaust had been "altered". I said "No shit. It's a 28 y/o car. I bet the mufflers have been replaced a FEW times." LOL Ricers ruin it for EVERYONE including themselves.

[Cold_Beer]

Originally Posted by BAMF

Its California. What the hell do you expect?

Liberal pussies?

O wait thats just what it sounds like.

[98DOHC]

Maybe they should try spending some time catching some illegal immigrants that drag the system down, instead of writing bs tickets. Southern cali is the "NEW" Mexico.

[95coBraSVT]

Originally Posted by 98DOHC

Southern cali is the "NEW" Mexico.

And Floriduh could be called "little havana".