Cars crushed in street racing crackdown

[ta240]

I don't like the idea of the gov't taking a person's property and destroying it to protect the rest of the population. Too many things that I own could be considered dangerous or could be used as weapons (or actually are weapons).

Since all cars 'can' be weapons isn't it just the ones that are being used recklessly that are the concern? Much the same as you can own a gun and keep the gun but if you go out in public just randomly shooting they will take it away from you.

I haven't read any of the details on the story and although I'm all for punishing them I do agree that you can give too much power to the police. I've read plenty of stories on cars that were seized and sold as being involved in drugs where the people involved really did seem innocent. At least here there isn't a monetary incentive for the cops to seize the cars.

That being said, we've already established that they weren't crushing the cars because they were modified or racing but because they were composed of stolen parts and they caught them because of a crackdown on racing. They just highlighted the racing angle because it made for better press. If their reasons for calling the parts stollen are legit then crush away.

and what exactly is a "vehicle identification sticker"? I've heard of Vehicle Identification Numbers but never seen one on a sticker before.

and also can we impliment car crushing for those drivers where they think the entire world wants to listen to what they are listening to on their stereo?

[Montezuma]

No it wouldn't. I moved here from SoCal, pretty much the dumbass ricer Mecca. I've had plenty of exposure to the jackassery surrounding it. I'm all for giving them harsher jail sentences. I don't like the idea of the gov't taking a person's property and destroying it to protect the rest of the population. Too many things that I own could be considered dangerous or could be used as weapons (or actually are weapons).

My wife and I had this talk on the way home from work the other day. Street racing is stupid and dangerous, but so is driving drunk or high, driving while drowsy or even driving while old. I don't think Paris Hilton's Mercedes was taken and crushed, nor will any rich kid's car because the rich kid's daddy would have the lawyer that is on retainer take care of it. I have two young drivers in my family, both girls(18&20) and I do worry all the time about morons street racing. I got my girls a Sentra SE-R and they used to tell me idiots would try to race them all the time. I just think the gov't has crossed the line here. I don't mind if the cops find what they think are stolen parts on the cars: that they impound the vehicle and possibly auction it off. Crushing it seems kinda over the top.

[ta240]

Maybe our Chinese members will chime in about how Buick is ruining theirs!

sorry to wander even more off subject but:

No, Buick sold out and helped China's economy. In order to be able to sell cars in China Buick gave them car building technology and now China is making similar cars that are competing with Buick there. Companies are so hungry to get a piece of that market that they all cave to Chinas requirements that they get the how to along with the products.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/GMsChinaPartnerLoomsAsRival.aspx

[Carl Beck]

Maybe we didnt get the whole story in the news report.

One Vote for the "Greatest Understatement" so far in this thread.

America no longer has Journalists reporting the news, nor Editors demanding factual and complete accounts be presented to the public. We have Entertainers creating stories taken from daily life, for multiple channels of cable Info-tain-ment. Now more and more delivered by Movie Star Quality Female anchors.

You never get the whole story - and what you do get is mostly misleading or simply wrong.

FWIW,

Carl B.

[ChrisA]

No, Buick sold out and helped China's economy. In order to be able to sell cars in China Buick gave them car building technology and now China is making similar cars that are competing with Buick there. Companies are so hungry to get a piece of that market that they all cave to Chinas requirements that they get the how to along with the products.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/GMsChinaPartnerLoomsAsRival.aspx

You missed the sarcasm in my reply. Which is why I made the China/Buick reference in the first place. !

Back on topic though, I don't really give a crap about the street racers or what happend to their cars. Don't want to be punished? Don't break the law.

Chris

[jmortensen]

Since all cars 'can' be weapons isn't it just the ones that are being used recklessly that are the concern? Much the same as you can own a gun and keep the gun but if you go out in public just randomly shooting they will take it away from you.

I haven't read any of the details on the story and although I'm all for punishing them I do agree that you can give too much power to the police. I've read plenty of stories on cars that were seized and sold as being involved in drugs where the people involved really did seem innocent. At least here there isn't a monetary incentive for the cops to seize the cars.

That being said, we've already established that they weren't crushing the cars because they were modified or racing but because they were composed of stolen parts and they caught them because of a crackdown on racing. They just highlighted the racing angle because it made for better press. If their reasons for calling the parts stollen are legit then crush away.

There is a difference between a gun and a car, and I didn't want to get too far into that discussion, but there are reasons (felony conviction, I think they ***just*** added mental illness, etc) why you are not LEGALLY ALLOWED TO OWN A GUN. There is to my knowledge NO LEGAL REASON TO DENY A CITIZEN OF THE US OWNERSHIP OF A CAR. So to take a legal posession and destroy it is to me an unfathomable violation of the 5th Amendment, and probably the 4th as well. I don't see much due process in "He was at the scene of the street races, so we took his car and crushed it" which seems to be where this is going. There have been other threads on Hybrid Z where someone had linked to a CHP training video which was telling cops what to look for under the hood to justify impounding cars, and those were equally scary. Things like "blue hoses" were found on the suspect's car in the video as parts that justified impounding a car. Even in the case of the gun that gets confiscated, I think the government would necessarily have to reimburse the owner for the value of the gun, reading the amendment.

If I were involved in one of these cases I'd sue the state and try and take it all the way to the Supreme Court. But that's just me...

[ta240]

NO LEGAL REASON TO DENY A CITIZEN OF THE US OWNERSHIP OF A CAR.

Even if the major components on the car are stolen?

I don't see much due process in "He was at the scene of the street races, so we took his car and crushed it" which seems to be where this is going.

I agree, if due process is missing then something is definately wrong. They should not be officer, judge, jury and executioner all in one. There should be a trial somewhere in there between taking the car and smashing it.

Otherwise I can see a day when people are cheering because they are crushing old Japanese cars that were caught on the street missing some of their smog equipment.

[ta240]

Don't want to be punished? Don't break the law

now who can be expected to remember a complex concept like that?

[ChrisA]

now who can be expected to remember a complex concept like that?

I dunno, street racers?? !

Nice website by the way Trevor. Very nice Z.

Chris

[jmortensen]

Even if the major components on the car are stolen?

Correct as far as I'm concerned. My understanding is that there is no reason to deny ownership of a vehicle. There are existing laws against possession of stolen property. If you have house furnished entirely with stolen goods, I don't think the cops confiscate the house, nor do they destroy it. Maybe I'm wrong, but that would surprise me greatly to find out that they would confiscate the whole property. An engine is not a car, and so I can't logically make the jump that one equates to the other.

Otherwise I can see a day when people are cheering because they are crushing old Japanese cars that were caught on the street missing some of their smog equipment.

Now we're talking the same language. It would "protect" the public to get rid of our polluting gas guzzlers. And there are already plenty who would stand by and cheer as they went to the crusher. What we don't need is government assuming the right to take property in the name of public safety, either incrementally or in one fell swoop, which is what I think is happening here.

[ChrisA]

If you have house furnished entirely with stolen goods, I don't think the cops confiscate the house, nor do they destroy it.

Maybe if its on wheels! In California. !

Chris

[280~Master]

You guys are all nuts. RFOL I have my Z for racing, cruising, and having those young A$$ kids in there Hondas and such going "WOW nice car what is it". You can make a 10 second Z that does out perform many other American mussel. I cold also care less about the thousands of foreign cars that are brought, shipped or half built here each year. I worry about other things like why is the 90TT missing or where to get my suspension set up for the 76 280from. I worry more about our young Soldiers in IRAQ being killed every day over what? OIL, Gold, Revenge, just because we elected a stupid monkey for our president. If you get caught street racing you should be punished just for getting caught. Sorry you have to lose your car but go race at a track or in another county so they don't crush your car.