Posted on 06/21/2007 4:48:29 PM PDT by radar101
RIALTO - Charles Hoang shook his head and paced as he watched window glass cascade to the ground, tires burst and metal crumple. The 18-year-old Chino man wasn't watching his own vehicle being crushed into a brick of scrap metal, but he knew it would soon be his car's turn.
"I want to cry right now," he said. Hoang's 1998 Acura Integra GSR was seized by Ontario police several months ago when he was caught street racing along Airport Drive. On Wednesday, police destroyed the car he spent a year and thousands of dollars building from the ground up.
He was one of six people whose vehicles were crushed at Ecology Auto Parts in Rialto through the area's San Bernardino County Regional Street Racing Task Force.
It's an operation run by numerous law enforcement agencies including the California Highway Patrol, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, as well as the Fontana, Chino, Upland, Ontario Airport and Montclair police departments.
Police are able to destroy the vehicles through court orders.
Ontario police say the program has reduced the number of street racers coming to the area by 80 percent in the past two years. Fatal and injury crashes caused by street racing have also declined, police said.
Five of the vehicles were seized not because their owners were street racing, but because they contained stolen engines and transmissions, police said.
Daniel Maldonado snapped digital photos as he watched his black 1992 Honda Civic being crushed.
"It's my life in there," he said. "That's all my money. That's all I've worked for."
His transmission didn't have an identification number. Police said it had been stolen. But Maldonado said he didn't know that and that older Japanese cars have ID stickers that can fall off.
Ontario police Cpl. Jeff Higbee said that's not possible.
Older Japanese cars bought in Japan and brought to the United States may have that problem, but American manufacturers affix mylar stickers to Japanese car parts.
"If they're not there, they've been removed by the owner," he said.
Ontario police pulled over Sergio Zavala in Ontario last year for a burned-out headlight. When officers popped open the hood of his 1993 Honda Civic, they also saw an engine with no identification number.
He later replaced that engine, but the new one also had no ID number on it. He said he didn't have the time or money to go shopping around for an engine.
But having his car seized was enough of a reality check.
"In the end, it's not worth it," he said.
Some of the vehicle owners lost a lot more than their wheels.
After Hoang's car was seized, he got fired from his job because no one would give him a ride to work. He was kicked out of school because the long walk made him late too many times, he said.
But he has plans to start over on a new car. This time, he says he doesn't plan to race unless he's on a legal track.
"It was worth it," he said. "I have no regrets. I'll live and learn."
Contact writer Melissa Pinion-Whitt at (909) 386-3878 or via e-mail at melissa.pinion-whitt@sbsun.com.
Except that two issues are covered together in the article. While it's true that they also do this for racing, this guy was pulled over for having a headlight out, they popped the hood (I assume they asked his permission, he was an idiot not to refuse it) and found an engine with no serial number.
After all, it worked for me!
Now I WOULD support crusing in a car crusher any government employee (police officer, judge, prosecutor, congressman, President, etc), who did anything against the original intent of the Constitution. Just run the crusher real slow, so it takes like an hour.
I did my street racing years ago...but if you bought a brand new aluminum engine case from Volkswagen back then, it came covered in cosmoline and it didn’t have a serial number stamped on it.
Crushed in 60 Seconds...
Your car should have been confiscated and crushed, not just for the street racing, but for failing to anticipate and accomodate your employees’ desire to trace your motor.
I have always said this is what should happen to repeat offenders of DUI-DWI. Also driving on suspended or revoked license.
What if they keep lowering the legal BAL? Would you still feel the same way if DUI becomes 0.02%? Does the fact that the feds bribe the states to establish a given BAL limit have any effect on your thinking on the matter? I realize the questions sound confrontational but that’s not my intent, more curiosity.
Yeah but those were classic cars destined to be worth 6 figures in 40 years. We had to be fools to risk such expensive detroit iron just to see whos car was faster.
Yeah but those were classic cars destined to be worth 6 figures in 40 years. We had to be fools to risk such expensive detroit iron just to see whos car was faster.
I also enjoy (figure of speech) MADD successfully lobbying for a decrease in the federal BAL, then citing in their fundraising the “increase in drunk driving”.
Not necessarily.
If the engine is "built" by a HP company like Spoon, they probably started with a new block casting, which would not have a serial number....
A reman engine would have serial numbers, and if the engine was replaced in the car, it would not have the "correct" serial number.
Teens have been hot-rodding their rides since there have been cars, and engine/transmission swaps have been a part of hot-rodding....
2180?
Nice try...
It does say that 5 of the 6 vehicles had stolen parts, but the last one apparently was just for street racing - and it sounds like this is a procedure that may be fairly common.
I’d like to whomp ‘em up side the head for endangering others, but taking a multiple thousand dollar car seems a bit much (except of course if it was stolen).
Squeeze me?
“Time to un-pimp...zee auto.”
I think Madd mothers sucks and the level now is too low.
The feds bribe the states to do a lot of things, Seat belts, helmets for motorcycles. legal drinking age of 21. Its a damned shame a Marine cant drink a beer at 19. As long as he stays off the road he should be able to have a brew.
I am not speaking of the occasional drinker who gets caught after a glass of wine.
There are professional drunks out there, you and I both know it, Most of us have friends who drink every day. I have a friend who wakes up and would blow a .08. These people are alcoholics who refuse help and refuse to stop driving. What good is it to put these people in jail so you and I have to feed them. Crush their damn cars. That should send them a message.
I am speaking of the guy with DUI’s up the ying yang who refuses to stop driving. Take his damned car and crush it.He doesnt belong on the road.
I think we’re at least mostly on the same page. I agree with all your positions except you don’t say what you think of the federal bribery.
I think it’s not OK on this issue and not OK on any other issue. If the feds have to slip in a bribe, it’s something they don’t have the authority to mandate. If they’re using tax dollars to bribe the states to do something they can’t mandate, they’ve overtaxed us. They paying our state legislators to do things they might not otherwise do, things we don’t want, and they paying them with OUR money, extracted in amounts large enough that they have some left over to use on issues in which they have no authority.
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