Lesson in street racing

Here's a novel way the Riverside Police Department is trying to spread the word to teens about the dangers of street racing:

A 17-year-old boy who struck and killed a Riverside woman in a wheelchair during an illegal street race last October will own up to his actions today during a presentation to high school students. The scheduled presentation at Martin Luther King High School is a condition of the teenager’s sentence, according to Riverside police spokesman Steve Frasher, who said the boy would be joined by several police officers discussing the dangers of street racing. "This kid was a first-time offender, and he was a pretty good kid from what I know," Frasher said during an interview yesterday. "But his actions led to some horribly tragic consequences." (CNS)

Comments

[Nsomnia]

I cant believe how ignorant you people can be. You can die a million ways and its not limited to just crossing the street. Most street racing takes place in the middle of no where and most participants are under the impression that they are there at their own risk. You people make me sick, sporty cars are popular now and ages ago because of street racers there is a community and phenomenon that drives an industry that is super successful. In the same way that tailgater's getting drunk and starting trouble at games ruining it for every one, there is a hand full of people that drive recklessly on the road. This behavior is not condoned by the illegal racing community and its a shame. However there are plenty of other instances where a sport or club type of gatherings and there followers have killed people resulting in similar public out cry id like to mention that those groups of people and organizations are as strong now as they ever were. So get a grip people, kids will be kids you cant stop people from being stupid all you can do is hope that they know better. No mater the consequences there will always be racing. I assure you that complaining about this and telling racers they are horrible will only agitate the situation and make it more likely they wont be thinking of people on the streets. And you people do nothing to help the situation. There is a certain thing about racing that cant be reproduced at a track like, when everyone can gather or how long they can be there and so on and so forth plus the fees and lines and all the crap. There aren't ways that you can reproduce this however no one seems to care. We should not isolate the racer we need to embrace them and curb there behavior towards a more safe environment if we want to change them we all have to participate and we all have to stop discriminating. Remember Racers are not to be underestimated they have a lot of say driving around a 2500lb wrecking ball. your choice people do something or don't do something.

[Michael Ballard]

While they may have seemed like "nice guys", they obviously have no regard to the lives they endanger by street racing. There are legal means to do it, but they somehow couldn't be bothered to do it? Let us not forget they KILLED someone. Nice people DON'T KILL! Are any of you suggesting they don't go to prison for murder? Murder is how I see it, accidental or not, as they put other lives in danger, without care for anyone else. Tell me how that is different than someone with a gun randomly shooting? They put our lives in danger with their stupidity. A lesson does need to be learned by them that there are consequences to their actions. This isn't an accident where someone changed lanes and hit someone, this is knowingly doing something illegal, and killing someone in the process.

[MM]

I was there with the boys families when this happened. I know the other driver on a personal level. i was at the court hearings...and i'm still there now as the other driver continues to go through trial. I don't want to sound heartless, but the media on this story has made out both of these boys to be the horrible criminals. They had a laps of judgment that ended horribly wrong. The media has also displayed the other driver as this bad guy who is nothing but a mess up. Yes he has previous speeding tickets, and yes his car was modified, but what they fail to mention is that he legally track races and that the reason why he was driving this car was because he had just touched it up and was making sure it ran properly, they also fail to mention that he could've kept going but instead he turned around and called 911. As for the kid who hit the lady, he is a great kid and he trying to make things right. they both know they can't change what happened, but it sucks that they're made out to be these horrible people when really they're two GREAT guys.

[MM]

I was there with the boys families when this happened. I know the other driver on a personal level. i was at the court hearings...and i'm still there now as the other driver continues to go through trial. I don't want to sound heartless, but the media on this story has made out both of these boys to be the horrible criminals. They had a laps of judgment that ended horribly wrong. The media has also displayed the other driver as this bad guy who is nothing but a mess up. Yes he has previous speeding tickets, and yes his car was modified, but what they fail to mention is that he legally track races and that the reason why he was driving this car was because he had just touched it up and was making sure it ran properly, they also fail to mention that he could've kept going but instead he turned around and called 911. As for the kid who hit the lady, he is a great kid and he trying to make things right. they both know they can't change what happened, but it sucks that they're made out to be these horrible people when really they're two GREAT guys.

[Ty]

As much as everyone sees this kid as a bad person, you have to take a minute and realize what this kid is going through. He didn't know that this tragedy was going to happen but it did. Everything happens for a reason, and this is the lesson that he's never going to forget. He's probably begging for forgiveness but he can't change what happend. If you're gonna race on the streets then ur gonna pay the consequences. At least race on a legal drag strip.

[Neil A]

So what's the prison sentence for this loser? He's old enough to kill, he's old enough to serve prison time.

[Carlo]

Jail the kid. I was a smart kid in HS and was smart enough to know not to be an idiot street racer. And where were the little rugrat's parents in this whole mess? Did they buy him out of prison just like they bought him all the crap to juice up his race car?

[yours truly, johnny dollar]

Paul, your "pissed off remarks" are "a-Paul-ing; please help out this un-street-racing savvy hay-seed (red-neck country bumpkin fresh off the turnip truck) what does "pissed off" mean in your world. I must live in another world. A little help here, please. It's a real pisser.

[Paul]

You know what would piss me off? Getting hit and killed by a street racer.
You know what would piss me off even more? Everyone else but me having an opinion about it.

[Laura]

There's a special circle of hell for street racers. Why is it that the unwitting drivers die and scum like him survive? I agree with other poster. A "pretty good kid" doesn't knowingly ignore the laws and put others in danger for no reason except to race. Hope all these street racers end up wrapped around a telephone pole instead of the driver's side door of my car, or your car.

[David in Tarzana]

Thanks johnny dollar. I couldn't have said it better myself.

[yours truly, johnny dollar]

"...and was a pretty good kid from what I know..."
So what? The wheel-chair bound woman won't get to tell
how, in her eyes, she thought she was a pretty good person.
What is this high school forum? Another form of show-and-tell.
The kid should be doing hard time; the woman is.