City of Portland approves plan to crack down on street racing

By FOX 12 STAFF

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    PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) — Portland’s city commissioners voted in favor of a plan to increase punishment for those who are caught street racing, which has become more frequent and dangerous in the city.

On Wednesday afternoon, Mayor Ted Wheeler along with Commissioners Mingus Mapps, Carmen Rubio, and Dan Ryan all approved an emergency ordinance aimed at cracking down on “street takeover events” like illegal racing and car drifting. Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty was not present for the vote.

The now passed ordinance means participants of such events can face up to 30 days in jail, a $500 fine, and/or have their cars towed. The original ordinance included a possible sentence of up to 6 months of jail time, but the final version was amended to the lower sentence.

FOX 12 has covered recent street racing events, including earlier this month when a race blocked a northeast Portland intersection for about three hours.

Portland police told FOX 12 previously that the bureau doesn’t have the officers and resources available to respond to every instance of street racing. “It’s frustrating to us, too, because we want to be able to solve, we want to be able to stop problems. We want to be able to help. But we’re not in a position right now as a police department to do all things that we wish we could do,” Lt. Greg Pashley said.

Street racing can have deadly consequences. Back in April, a motorcyclist died in a crash during a reported race.

Since July 2020, police said there have been five deaths related to street races in the city.

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