Four people shot at illegal street race in Auburn; new Washington law will be of little help

Auburn Police have reported that four people were shot, a teen girl and three men, when a fight broke out at an illegal street race in Auburn early yesterday morning.   Thankfully they all survived and are in stable condition in the hospital.  These races have become more and more dangerous through the decades, and the possibility of violence at these events has been increasing.

The governor is poised to sign Senate Bill 5606, a new law that the legislature devised to crack down on these illegal street races. But the legislature’s failure on the pursuit law will make the street racing law virtually unenforceable.  The new street racing law makes driving recklessly in a street race a more serious offense with higher penalties, and allows police to impound cars for this reckless behavior. This would be a deterrent, except that under the police pursuit law, a car being driven recklessly can’t be pursued by police.   Common sense says it’s unlikely that someone engaging in a street race would willingly pull over and hand over their car keys to a police officer that is not pursuing them and is forbidden to do so.  We battled street racing for most of my 28 years on Renton City Council after local young people were killed in some of these races.  The drivers were very skilled at eluding police even before the police were told not to chase them.  The legislature should fix the law to allow for pursuit of reckless drivers if they want this street racing law to actually mean something.

The text of the new bill can be found here.