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Police grab $2 million worth of cars after Canadian street race
This could be the plot for a movie, "Fast and Furious Canada," or maybe "Fast and Furious, the Young and the Rich."
Police in British Columbia say they impounded $2 million worth of high-end vehicles this week after witnesses reported the 13 cars racing on a metro Vancouver highway at speeds of 125 mph (200 kph).
The high-end race cars included a Ferrari, Lamborghinis, Maseratis, an Audi, an Aston Martin, Nissans and a Mercedes, according to a Royal Canadian Mounted Police press release.
Two of the racers would run side-by-side to block other traffic going in their direction on the highway while the others cars would take off in a race, witnesses told the RCMP.
"These drivers seemed to be looking for attention. Well, they definitely got the attention of police," Cpl. Holly Marks, spokesperson for the Lower Mainland District Regional Police Service, said in the press release.
What the racers, who police said are all under age 21, won't get is harsh punishment.
"Each driver will be charged with Driving without Reasonable Consideration and receive a violation ticket with a specified penalty of $196. Additionally, these drivers will be responsible for all associated towing and storage charges," according to the RCMP press release.
That's because police didn't actually catch them in the act and acted only on witness accounts. They weren't caught on radar, video or seen by a police officer, Superintendent Norm Gaumont, RCMP officer in charge of traffic enforcement for the Lower Mainland, told the Surrey Now newspaper.
"I know there's a lot of disappointment, wondering why we only charged them with an offence of $196. They fact of the matter is, we have to look at all the evidence we have and what we're able to prove," Surrey Now quoted Gaumont as saying. "That's why we've charged them with driving without due consideration for the public."
If police were able to charge the 13 drivers with more severe offenses, they could have faced forfeiture of their vehicles, according to a Vancouver Sun report.
The RCMP said most of the drivers were operating their vehicles on "N" class licenses, which means they had not yet attained full driving privileges. Only one of the drivers was the registered owner of the car they were driving, Gaumont told Surrey Now.
The drivers included 12 men and one woman, according to Surrey Now. Gaumont told the paper they were on their way to have a meal when they decided to race.
According to the Sun, the vehicles were:
- 2007 Ferrari 599
- 2010 Lamborghini Gallardo
- 2010 Lamborghini Gallardo
- 2009 Lamborghini Gallardo
- 2009 Audi R8
- 2012 Nissan GT-R
- 2010 Nissan GT-R
- 2010 Nissan GT-R
- 2010 Maserati Turismo
- 2010 Maserati Turismo
- 2011 Mercedes SL63
- 2011 Mercedes SLS
- 2005 Aston Martin DB9
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That's BS.. They have no right to impound cars from a stupid street racing incident. I highly Doubt they even seen all these cars racing if they where.
It must have been really hard for the Canadian police to catch up to these cars on their horses. Maybe they got a break as all cars in Canada have square tires, at least according to South Park anyway. "I'm not your buddy, friend" – "Well I'm not your friend, guy." – "He's not your guy, buddy."
why don't they publish the names of these drivers? that way, the public can, at least, take/make their own justice.
What do you expect from a bunch of filthy rich kids!!!
Lets see what we got here. Cars stolen by the Police from reports from unqualified untrained bystanders on what speeds they were supposedly traveling down a highway. There was no physical evidence just " I said so with my built in radar brain." Talk about a Pig Police state of affairs. The VC police were just looking for a way to legally steal expensive cars for a quick buck, making themselves the judge and jury without a trial. Assumed guilt by the sloppy hearsay of witnesses that had no radar or way of determining there actual speed.
it's called 'pacing' and it is very accurate.
RM – That's great, but the cars have to be paced before the speed can be measured by pacing. Who else outside of that group is going to be able to keep up? If the cops weren't there, then it wasn't them.
You, Sir or Madam, are sociopathic if you really believe the tripe spewed in your post. The perpetrators ADMITTED they were racing!
If you're going the posted speed limit and they they all pass you at a faster rate of speed, then that qualifies anyone to say they are speeding.
They are all asians. lol
Those asians drive like crap.
The VC police? Didn't know B.C. had Vietnamese Communists enforcing the laws. But I guess you have no way of ascertaining reality based on your hallucinations from trying to read this article. Get some rest and take your meds.
The Prius got away!
Thats Priceless!!!! Thank you very much for the pure humorous perfectness. I needed that badly.
It couldn't keep up with the other cars...
ERRM, I'm a 23 year old Chinese-Canadian and I don't even have my own car. And my parents drive a 1997 Toyota Camry. So can we stop generalizing people based on ethnicity or immigrant status? There are Asians who are rich, there are Asians who are in the middle-class, and there are Asians who are working at McDonalds for a living. EESH.
Yeah, and you're probably not good at math either. We get it. No stereotyping.
So it's a coincidence they were all Asian? How come 13 young Canadian guys are not driving around in extremely expensive cars?
I feel your pain. Sometimes we are surrounded by idiots...like Dave who will never realize he is a ignorant and prejudiced moron.
Hey man with double mba if you are thinking that someone owes you a job and you are in mid 30s I feel for you, really. Time to grow up I guess. Also Chinese or not that doesn't matter really, however driving @ 125 mph is reckless for sure . There are speed tracks out there built for a reason !
You're right..but why do they sell these cars to just anyone(with money of course), and let the buyers legally put them on the road? It's not like these vehicles aren't known to do these speeds(and much more), and FAITHFULLY advertises it.
I absolutely do NOT condone the actions, and think they should have gotten a heavier ticket, but only because they did this without regard to the populated area they were in. I'm sure there are more isolated area they could have went to speed a little..hell, thats what these cars are legally advertising!! And umm..where are these 'many' racetracks that you can go 125 mph for longer distances than 1/4 mile that the public can go to..even in Canada? I mean, thats what these cars are made to do..if they didn't want them on the streets, don't let them legalize them and register them..or make a few (more?)public access tracks...or simply outlaw them and never let them on the roads.
I feel that if they are gonna let these cars be made, KNOWING their potential of higher speeds, then theres no reason to do too much harsh to anyone that speeds with these vehicles, IF they use reasonable caution, and NEVER in known populated areas. Or designate a time and place for it, inform the public that it is happening, or make regional tracks for it.
Or just let them make the vehicles, then legalize them for your roads and entrap them for speeding in a car that is legally made to do these speeds, so you can make your money. As I said, I do NOT condone these actions, IF the article is correct in saying that it was in a metro area of beltway/highway/whatever.Thats not the place to do it, period! If they were able to charge them with more(if a cop would have seen them), then I agree with taking the vehicles from them. If they will do it in that kind of population, they'd not stop until they killed someone and/or themselves. A witness being able to determine a speed of 125 mph doesn't really matter...if you see a car doing really fast speeds, you KNOW they are speeding..whether it's 125 mph, 160 mph, or 90, mph. Its speeding. Period. In a populated area, it's reckless driving!
And why "no officer saw them"? It takes a long time to get to 125 mph and stop from it. NO cop, in a metro area, saw this?
So, essentially, this whole article is hearsay? really?
I'm glad it was called in though, IF its valid.
Blessed Be to everyone.
"And why "no officer saw them"? It takes a long time to get to 125 mph and stop from it. NO cop, in a metro area, saw this?"
Really? Did you not notice the cars that they were driving?
Granted...if it was my minivan...ok...maybe not. Any other stock muscle car though may take a while to get to those speeds. A supercar like any of those however...
Whizerd, it doesn't take that long to hit 125 at all in those cars. Especially not from a rolling start.
These are kids living out a Need for Speed video game fantasy because their parents have the money. This is not so different in terms of "Stupid Parenting Tricks" than $1M Bar Mitzvahs, Sweet 16s, or princess complex weddings.
To be clear there is no evidence to support any charge, particularly – Section 146 of the MVA of BC – since no police witnessed any of the alleged speeding or racing. This is all hearsay from civilian withnesses, not trained in pacing/clocking or equiped with certified speed measurement devices. I'm sure that their parents already have competant lawyers on retainer. These individuals have done this before and they have posted their videos on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=vancouver+sports+car+club&aq=0&oq=vancouver+sports+
This one shows some of the impounded cars doing this a few months ago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ3B_IWomv8
They were not really street racing per se. They were clearing a piece of highway for their enjoyment by blocking both lanes – which is easy to do – and completely legal – just drive side by side at the speed limit and a large stretch of highway will open up in front. The other members of the club then can speed up ahead on a wide open highway – which is illegal, but they would have to be caught – not unlike every single car on the 401. They would have to be monumentally more incompetant than the average Richmond Chinese driver to pose any danger – particularly given the safety margin afforded by the high limits (much better brakes and cornering grip) of these high performance cars.
If you ever wanted to live "Need for Speed", you too can join the club if you are a spoiled brat with an exotic car, a bad (but no doubt expensive) haircut and $2399 for membership to the club – a registered non-profit.
Since every one of you anti-speeding nuts are hypocrits – because you have all exceeded the limit at one-time or another. The average speed of most drivers on most roads are higher than the posted limit – which means most people speed most of the time.
But, the NHTSA says that only 31% of traffic fatalities involve at least one of the vehicles exceeding the posted speed limit. That leaves 69% of fatalities occur where all vehicles were at or below the speed limit. So you are much less likely to die in a crash if you are speeding than if you are not.
If you can't see the difference in what these losers were doing and a normal flow of traffic then thats pathetic. These retards put other peoples lives in danger to amuse themselves and try to look cool. Instead of a ticket I'd crack them each once in the knee with a baseball bat.
The headline "$2M in cars" is not appropriate for the story. They are not even "grabbed", but story indicates that they are issued citations. Can we get some fair reporting please?
So against the law, but so awesome!
I think some of you guys are just jealous that these kids are half your age and driving better cars than you. And there's so many people acting like they almost killed someone, cmon, it was 200kph, allegedly, since they weren't caught on radar. Really it's not like they pushed these cars to their limit, they were just having some fun.
So as a 21 year old (myself) who drives a sports car, makes it appropriate for me to reach 200 Km/H? (125 Mph) If so your logic is sociologically un-respectable by all means...
My boyfriend is Asian, hes 20, and I pick him up every day in my toyota, or he would have to take the bus. So I conclude not asians drive fancy wheels.
jeez, you are with a scrub? does he still live with his momma?
I wonder how many times you can say "press release" in one article... ?? Wow bad writing...