Good!

[theking]

Hopefully it'll a message out to other illegal racing/side show idiots that don't care about innocent others sharing the road's well being to begin with...

CHP officers shoot and kill driver in Fullerton during street racing investigation

Less than an hour before they fatally shot a 19-year-old driver in Fullerton on Sunday, two undercover California Highway Patrol officers watched one pickup truck after another pull into the parking lot of the Santa Fe Springs swap meet. 

Gradually, the number of trucks and off-road vehicles swelled from 10 to 50 to nearly 80, authorities said.

The drivers had come for a “sideshow,” an illegal car rally in which motorists show off their skills, and many began spinning tire-scorching “doughnuts” that filled the air with acrid smoke.

The officers, part of a task force investigating street racing and other outlaw driving events over the holiday weekend, called for marked cruisers to break up the gathering.

As the law enforcement units arrived, a red Chevy Silverado pickup truck fled the area, blazing along side streets at speeds approaching 90 mph, according to California Highway Patrol Lt. Charlie Sampson.

The undercover officers followed the pickup for five miles, stopping on a dead-end street in Fullerton about 10:50 p.m.

The truck made a U-turn and barreled toward the CHP officers, who opened fire, Fullerton police said.

The truck struck another vehicle before driving toward the officers, who were exiting their vehicle when they opened fire, according to another law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation. The truck struck the undercover cruiser either during or immediately after the shooting, the official said.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.

The driver of the vehicle died at the scene, and his 18-year-old passenger was treated for non-life-threatening injuries, according to Sampson and Fullerton police. It was not clear if the driver knew he was being followed by the undercover car, Sampson said.

The deadly clash highlights what many Southern California law enforcement agencies see as an increasing threat to public safety in the Los Angeles area — caused by a thriving street racing scene that has grown more dangerous for civilians and police alike in recent months.

The officers involved in Sunday night’s shooting, which is now under review by the Orange County district attorney’s office, were part of a larger deployment from the CHP’s Southern Division, Sampson said.

The agency had received information that several car and truck clubs from the Bay Area had planned to travel to Southern California to take part in sideshows involving off-road vehicles, Sampson said.

This year, similar rallies involving car and truck clubs from the Bay Area drew nearly 500 racers to the South Bay, Compton, Watts and unincorporated areas of South L.A., police have said.

In response, the CHP’s Southern Division deployed a swarm of marked cruisers and undercover officers to try and break up the rallies starting at noon Sunday, Sampson said.

The meet the officers were trying to disrupt had been moved three times Sunday, from South Gate to Rosemead to the Santa Fe Springs swap meet, Sampson said.

Relocating sideshows through cryptic Instagram posts and other social media blasts has become a common tactic on the street racing circuit in recent years, one that makes the drivers’ movements harder to track, according to investigators.

The identity of the driver who was killed was being withheld pending notification of his family, according to Fullerton police. The surviving victim, an 18-year-old male, was shot in the arm and is expected to survive, police said.

Sampson would not identify either officer involved in the shooting, but he said they had been with the CHP for 15 and six years, respectively.

The agency had received information that several car and truck clubs from the Bay Area had planned to travel to Southern California to take part in sideshows involving off-road vehicles, Sampson said.

This year, similar rallies involving car and truck clubs from the Bay Area drew nearly 500 racers to the South Bay, Compton, Watts and unincorporated areas of South L.A., police have said.

In response, the CHP’s Southern Division deployed a swarm of marked cruisers and undercover officers to try and break up the rallies starting at noon Sunday, Sampson said.

The meet the officers were trying to disrupt had been moved three times Sunday, from South Gate to Rosemead to the Santa Fe Springs swap meet, Sampson said.

Relocating sideshows through cryptic Instagram posts and other social media blasts has become a common tactic on the street racing circuit in recent years, one that makes the drivers’ movements harder to track, according to investigators.

The identity of the driver who was killed was being withheld pending notification of his family, according to Fullerton police. The surviving victim, an 18-year-old male, was shot in the arm and is expected to survive, police said.

Sampson would not identify either officer involved in the shooting, but he said they had been with the CHP for 15 and six years, respectively.