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* Sun-Times…
After another wild weekend of stunt driving, drifting and street racing, a new bill introduced in Springfield aims to hold drivers accountable by charging them with a felony that carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison.
State Rep. La Shawn Ford told the Sun-Times he introduced the measure earlier this week to send a “strong message” to those involved in the city’s underground car culture, who he said have faced little consequences and “think this is a game.” The Chicago Democrat previously spearheaded a similar law that takes effect at the start of the year. […]
His bill would give officials the ability to charge street racers and drifters with mob action, a Class 4 felony that carries a possible prison sentence of one to three years. Others who engage in violent disturbances, like those captured in a viral video chucking objects and kicking a police cruiser, would face the same charge.
Ford said he was first moved to act last December, when he saw drivers block off the Eisenhower Expressway near the Rush University Medical Center. Video of the incident shows cars doing donuts and kicking up smoke as onlookers record video on their cellphones, a familiar scene for the car sideshows.
“With them shutting down the [Interstate 290] expressway right by Rush hospital, people wouldn’t be able to get there for an emergency,” he said. “And I called the state police and talked to some of the law enforcement community, and they said there’s nothing they can do.”
The ISP said there’s nothing they could do?
* I asked the Illinois State Police about this…
The Illinois State Police responds to all calls it receives of illegal and/or dangerous activity. The most recent example is ISP’s response to mob action at the intersection of Division Street and Elston Avenue on July 3, 2022, in which a mob of about 100 people began to swarm an ISP trooper’s squad vehicle, jumping on the hood, breaking the windshield, kicking the vehicle, and throwing rocks, bricks, and fireworks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_i5XRMxeS4
In the December 2021 referenced by Rep. Ford, ISP made arrests for the expressway shutdown (attachment) and dedicated additional resources to prevent these types of expressway shut downs, such as monitoring by air operations and rapid deployment of patrol. The challenge for all law enforcement with these illegal events is they are often spontaneous events driven by real time social media activity.
ISP enforces the law to its fullest extent. However, there are limitations within the current laws that don’t sufficiently address the specific danger of the conduct being displayed. ISP worked with Rep. Ford on his legislation to address street sideshows within the Illinois Vehicle Code, creating a specific charge for a specific offense to make it easier to hold everyone involved accountable, including those people who are blocking the street to take video or watch. ISP will continue to work with Rep. Ford and other legislators by providing our subject matter expertise to policy development aimed at bringing those who take part in this dangerous action to justice and protecting the public on Illinois expressways.
The ISP arrest press release is here. The bill Ford passed and was signed into law is here.
* Rep. Ford’s new bill adds the “knowing and reckless” activity of drifting and street racing to the mob action criminal statute “if the activity results in the use of force or violence disturbing the public peace.” It has no current co-sponsors.
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Sep 1, 22 @ 1:44 pm
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Felony? Need a prosecutor Who will charge. Need police who can chase. Need enough police not to be overrun by the mob etc. more symbolic BS.
Comment by Law not the issue Thursday, Sep 1, 22 @ 1:55 pm
It’s interesting that some folks like to blame Hollywood for our country’s gun and mass shooting epidemic rather than actually deal with the real-life issues and know that Hollywood films are often (not always) art imitating life. All those John Wick shoot em up movies or video games don’t really turn kids into mass shooters, right? They’ve been talking about how the news during Vietnam, movies and violent tv shows have been desensitizing kids to violence as long as I’ve been alive.
I wonder when certain politicians will start railing on Hollywood again for all those Fast and Furious movies. I love Halloween and Friday the 13th movies. I’m not out whacking teens with butchers’ knives. And I know in the 50s or 60s drag racing was a thing for a while and Hollywood also made movies about it. Hopefully this is just a fad for a small group of people who will eventually stop before they start killing people. And I’m glad people like Rep. Ford are making a real attempt to halt these activities. I hate to think some large cities are going to turn into downtown Detroit like in Robocop or when Robocop will become a real thing someday to deal with rampant lawlessness.
Comment by Baloneymous Thursday, Sep 1, 22 @ 2:02 pm
I don’t know if the old dragstrips are still around anywhere, but having them around, with low cost/no-cost race nights could give an outlet for some of this stuff in a more controlled and safer environment. That said, doing this stuff on public roads should get a heavy enforcement with cars being seized on the spot. It requires a dedicated quick-reaction force that is large enough it can’t be intimidated by crowd size.
I realize getting to these spontaneous flashmob “races” in time to disperse them is a logistical problem, but in the meantime the ISP does have a fusion center where a dedicated team could dive into the inevitable social media postings around these “rolling riots” and build prosecute-able cases after the fact.
Comment by Give Us Barabbas Thursday, Sep 1, 22 @ 2:17 pm
== if the old dragstrips are still around anywhere, but having them around, with low cost/no-cost race nights ==
There are some still around, but operating them is costly for the owners. Biggest cost is the liability insurance … and that is at tracks that are part of national associations, with a safety staff, clear cut rules, etc. Plus most of the remaining ones are outside major metropolitan areas. From memory, the 2 located near major areas are just south of Joliet and a bit east if St Louis in Madison. There are lots of smaller race tracks, but they are often 1/4 and 1/2 mile dirt tracks.
The idea has some merit, but it isn’t going to be cheap. If it was strictly grudge matches, you wouldn’t need to collect money for the prizes like at a formal event, but there is still the overhead to cover of safety inspections, liability insurance, etc. Maybe the State should look into a test program subsidizing a weekly or monthly event somewhere.
Comment by RNUG Thursday, Sep 1, 22 @ 2:41 pm
I’m sympathetic to Ford’s point, but I’m also skeptical that adding theoretical jail time is going to dissuade these people. I do think the answer is going to be more and faster enforcement during the sideshows (and incidentally, the resources needed to send a fast-moving team to break one up are very similar to the ones needed to track carjackers). Impounding vehicles and steep fines might do the job faster and without requiring a prosecutor’s time.
Comment by Benjamin Thursday, Sep 1, 22 @ 2:46 pm