Police Use Crime-Fighting Tech To Track Street Racers, Make Arrests
ANAHEIM (CBSLA) — Officers with the California Highway Patrol were busy this weekend busting street racers who were trying to take over streets in the Inland Empire and a freeway in Orange County.
One driver thought he managed to evade police on the 91 Freeway, but officers were hot on his trail with the help of some crime-fighting technology.
In video released by the CHP, a street racer can be seen leading police on a pursuit from Riverside to Anaheim at about 1 a.m. Sunday morning. The driver in the car was unaware that he and his passenger were being following by an Orange County Shieriff's Department helicopter using technology that allows pilots to see in the dark.
When the driver pulled off onto a side street in Anaheim, the pilot called police and the two people in the vehicle were arrested within minutes.
According to officers with the CHP, the speeding driver was one of three street racers they followed from Riverside County early Sunday morning.
Seconds before another street racer crashed off the Lakeview exit and the 91 Freeway, cameras caught the driver of the black Camaro flying by another street racer on the freeway.
The Camaro crashed into a mom and her two young daughters in Lakeview. Luckily they were not seriously injured, and the driver was taken into custody.
And the night before, CHP officers impounded nine cars after street racers tried to take over the 57 Freeway in what drivers call a street takeover or sideshow.
These sideshows can draw dozens, if not hundreds, of participants and often have police lookouts. They are so dangerous, the CHP has formed a special task force to crack down on them, which is how they found the street racers on the 57 Freeway in Anaheim.
"Street racing, unfortunately, has become a huge problem, not just here in Southern California, but throughout the state," Sgt. Jesus Sanchez said.
Police are hoping this weekend's arrests will send the message that street racing will not be tolerated.
