Arvada Police Join Effort To Curb Street Racing, Break Up Gathering In Costco Parking Lot
ARVADA, Colo. (CBS4) - Arvada police sealed off the entrances to the Costco store parking lot at 51st and Wadsworth Wednesday night. The store was closing but cars were gathering. The information they had received led them to believe it was a car meetup perhaps to be followed by street racing.
Mac Stepp heard the commotion and came out to see what appeared to be a meet-up for street racers. He knows too well what the consequences can be. In 2002, his brother Jason Sopko was killed crossing a street in Denver.
"A street racer hit, struck him, didn't slow down, stop, never was brought to justice," Stepp said.
On this night police had the upper hand. They swooped in and told those gathered that the Costco parking lot was closed, the event over before trouble might start. The drivers agreed to leave without any issues.
Stepp grew up around cars and says he understands the mentality, "I know it goes fast, you know it goes fast. I don't have to prove to you it goes fast."
"We end up with cars racing, we end up with people maybe fighting, car crashes and reckless driving," said Arvada Police Detective Dave Snelling.
Snelling went on to describe a Denver metro area-wide effort to curb the speeding cars.
The need was highlighted last weekend when hundreds of cars were caught up in street racing on I-225 in Aurora. On Sunday night, up to 800 vehicles were gridlocked on southbound Interstate 225 in Aurora because of illegal street racing activity.
After that, Denver police released dashcam video of a car believed racing at 105 mph on I-25 in January. The driver lost this race as the police dashcam video revealed an officer with the driver pulled over saying, "Hello, your license, registration and insurance please."
Police ask the public to alert them to street racing at www.reportstreetracing.com.
