JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office alongside the Florida Highway Patrol on Thursday afternoon announced dozens of arrests and hundreds of citations sparked by a citywide crackdown on street racing.
The Sheriff’s Office said it has arrested 36 people, towed 13 vehicles, wrote 503 tickets and gave out 128 warnings following a street racing bust outside a Roses Discount Store on Lem Turner Road in May.
A total of $92,510 in traffic citations were issued, and the fees for the 13 street racers, whose cars were towed and impounded for 30-days, cost over $1,000.
The News4JAX I-TEAM has investigated the street racing issue for months.
At the news conference, JSO said this string of busts has led to a “drastic reduction” in the racing scene in Jacksonville. JSO also stressed that it will continue to pull people over for racing and parking lot takeovers.
Assistant Chief Jaime Eason acknowledged that there are a lot of law-abiding street racing clubs that meet up respectfully. Others behave unlawfully.
The street racing issues started to receive more attention after residents started to complain about local car clubs taking over the streets, tearing up local parking lots and driving dangerously with other people around.
News4JAX asked JSO why the issue took so long before there was major police development.
“That’s a good question,” Eason said. “We think it’s because with something like that, it’s not such a fluid event. It’s not a narcotics investigation, a stationary location, a house where we can focus strictly on that. When it comes to something like this, it takes a large amount of police officers, detectives, other agencies to get an actual plan together.”
JSO also had a warning for people who just spectate and watch these illegal races and parking lot takeovers.
“If you’re out there, and you’re actually watching these meetups and these races and you’re taking the video of it, you’ve now become a spectator of illegal activity. Therefore, you are liable for it and you will get a ticket for it. And if you’re a passenger in a vehicle, and you’re racing and that car gets pulled over, you also will get a ticket,” Eason said.
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