Illegal Street Racing Bust St. Pete Florida
 

First came the wheelies.

Two motorcycles sped back and forth along Fourth Street N as Saturday turned into Sunday. The riders leaned back on their back wheels, showing off as hundreds watched along the road.

Then two Honda Civics spun their tires in the northbound lanes. It was the night's first race.

A beat-up coupe in primer gray flew down the road after them. The tires smoked and screeched as the driver executed a high-speed skid, spinning 180 degrees through a U-turn. Drifting was popular with the night's crowd.

But then Fourth Street N has always been a place to see and be seen. Of course, no one is allowed to race, or pop a wheelie, or park on the side of the road until the sun comes up. They do it anyway.

The crowd cheered as the gray coupe whipped by again, the rear end missing them by mere feet.

Then they were all running for their cars.

Police cruisers raced down the interstate ramp, lights flashing, to block the roadway. Suddenly Fourth Street N was like a mall parking lot on Christmas Eve.

Officers blocked the north end and any hopes of escape onto I-275. But as the drivers turned to flee south to Gandy Boulevard, it dawned on them that it's a trap.

More red and blue lights flashed in the distance.

Busted.

• • •

As the Courtney Campbell Parkway is to Clearwater, so too is Fourth Street N to St. Petersburg: a haven for two- and four-wheeled recklessness.

The stretch of Fourth from I-275 to the Inlet Bay at Gateway apartment complex is flat and straight, four lanes surrounded by nothing but grass and water.

It's a popular fishing spot, but better known as a hangout, especially for the car culture crowd.

But the complaints have been piling up again. The roadway is a public nuisance and a disaster waiting to happen, said St. Petersburg police Sgt. Karl Lounge.

"There's a complete disregard for safety," he said. "You've got vehicles completely sliding out of control. A motorcycle popping a wheelie at 80, 90 mph has no control. And the entire street is lined up with pedestrians standing up in the roadway."

Earlier in the month, officers had swooped in and arrested four people on misdemeanor racing charges. Hundreds of spectators tried to scurry away. But it was too late.

Undercover officers had already videotaped their license plates. Days later, 130 drivers got $30 parking tickets in the mail. The signs there warn that it's illegal to park along Fourth Street N from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.

But police changed tactics on Saturday and Sunday — and targets. This time they aimed for the spectators. Street racing is a crime, but watching one also carries its own penalty.

Being a spectator to street racing is a civil infraction, a $151 ticket and three points placed against a driver's license.

• • •

The crowd swelled by the minute as midnight approached. They were mostly young, some middle-aged. There even was a 12-year-old kid with his dad.

The air was hot and humid, and thick with paranoia. Everyone was still spooked from the last raid. Many believed a Times reporter and photographer were actually cops.

They covered their license plate tags with towels and bits of cardboard. It seemed to be the only lesson gleaned from getting those tickets in the mail.

The trap was sprung at 1:20 a.m. Sunday. Soon thick lines of small imports and pickup trucks stretched at least a mile.

Angel Rosa, 18, just graduated from Freedom High School in Tampa. He voiced a common excuse: He was just passing by.

Rosa said he was on his way to Derby Lane and wasn't there for the races. He and his friends leaned against his gold 1991 Toyota Corolla, stuck in the middle of the line.

"It's hot, we're getting bit up," he said, "and I'm getting a fine for nothing."

Dozens of people declined to speak with a Times reporter on the record, but their complaints fell along several lines:

Many denied they were watching any racing. Many complained that the police and the state statute were heavy-handed. Some denied the scene was at all dangerous.

Everyone seemed to have this in common, though: No one knew they could be cited just for watching a street race.

And no one had a good excuse.

"Just passing by" was the most common excuse. Some said they didn't know there was street racing going on there.

Some gave up on the line and parked along the trees to hide. But the cops found their vehicles.

Some left their vehicles behind and walked to a 7-Eleven to wait the cops out. But the cops waited.

• • •

The last ticket was written at 4:40 a.m. In 31/2 hours, 221 citations were issued, and one arrest was made for DUI.

Sgt. Terri Hubble's 24 tickets left her massaging her aching fingers. It was the most she had written in one shift in her 20 years on the force.

"My hands will never be the same," she said.

But few went to St. Petersburg residents. Most of the tickets went to cars from Cape Coral, Dade City, Fort Lauderdale, Lutz, Plant City, Tampa and Valrico.

Police know it's a temporary solution. The racers will just move on to the causeway, or either end of the Gandy Bridge, or that spot along 28th Street N the motorcycle crowd favors.

But as the sun rose Sunday, Fourth Street N was finally clear.

"The ultimate goal is to make that stretch of roadway safer," Lounge said. "If the racers choose to go somewhere else, we'll deal with that then."

Jamal Thalji can be reached at thalji@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8472.

LINK FOR PICTURES
http://www.tampabay.com/specials/200...s/Drag_Racing/

sweet

i love it when people get busted for street racing

Damn, that sucks. I would have loved to see a video of the bust though.

DAAAAAM:eek::eek:

Cops suck and there retarded for racing there so epic fail

this

lmao what a revenue generator that one was...

although street racing isnt to be endorsed or anything, i can say I used to go, and ive seen more accidents from other legal crap then street racing...why? because if you are there you knwo what is going on and are paying attention.

they want to stop this from happening? have a free nigth at te track for these guys on weekends, let them run it, flag it, everything.

it will keep happening and although they say they are trying to make the area safer, they just want some old lady to stop calling in and complaining and to make some money, if they didnt get revenue out of it so easily then it would be just fine.

I think the donught eating, lazy, good for nothing (most o the time at least around here) po po need to go do what they were originally brought together to do...to actually protect the public from real threats and to go out and catch people actually harming someone...

shit, their quota is good for two months...lol.

Wow that's a crazy bust. I woulda liked to be there to see it (but as the camera guy for the article or something, not a spectator haha. Hopefully this'll get people to stop racing down there.

And btw, 221 $151 dollar tickets is.... $33,371 from just those 'spectator tickets' alone. Not to mention any other tickets issued. Damn.

Wow, no kidding. 221 tickets at $151 that is about $33,371. That is a good chunk of change for 3 and a half hours of work.

^Billig ss/sc Beat me to it

That cop should be shot.

^^Idk about that haha, but I had a similar "wtf?" reaction when I read that.

^^:D

she might have been joking

Good thing i didn't go......now i think im going to chill out from the races on my part of town.....

shot they race Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night by me all the time with no cop sounds ever and man you cant imagine how loud it gets...i sit at home and am like WTF no one hears this lol

Yea you florida guys better watch your backs for a while

Oh dont worry they will be back there i a few weeks. I used to go there but i stopped it was pointless.

:lol: thats so true :lol:

it is wack to take points of peoples records for non moving violations. i would question the legality of that. freedom of assembly!! you guys are going to need a parade permit.

They don't care about points, they care about the money, plain and simple. They will do you a favor of lowering/eliminating points but they still get the money from ya, especially for first time offenders.

Its kinda fucked up that some people may have just been driving through, but I knew about this beforehand, hence why I have not gone back there. (Also a few of us got parking tickets a lil bit before then) Also helps that I work with cops on a daily basis teaching them how to shoot and such. Hence why that night I was trying to get everyone to meet at best buy, then go to causeway later. (Which was closed to entice people to go to 4th street.) I came prepared with a fishing pole this time for causeway though.

I ended up going to hooters.

so do u know dom?

i was out there 2 monts ago and cops came it was like the scene out of fast and the furious when everyone dipped it was awesome

They got what they deserved spectators and racers alike. Street racing is illegal and the spectators were required to call the police and report it. That's the only reason why I can see the spectators receiving fines, because they failed to report crime. Take it to the track!