Police Cracking Down On Moreland Ave. Drag Racing

DECATUR, GA — DeKalb County Police are cracking down on drag racing on a stretch of Moreland Avenue notorious as a hotspot for the races.

WSB-TV reports that police late Sunday night towed several cars and made several arrests on Moreland. The crackdown came a week after a Dodge Charger flew off the road and crashed into an auto repair shop, landing on its side.

The Charger flew over concrete barricades shop owners had installed because their shop already had been hit several times by speeding cars.

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Police said 30 units, including wreckers, were deployed on Moreland late Sunday night for the crackdown. In all, there were seven arrests, four impounded vehicles, 17 citations and one weapon recovered, according to DeKalb County Police spokeswoman Shiera Campbell.

"Driving in the state of Georgia and in DeKalb county is a privilege and not a right," Maj. K.D. Johnson, DeKalb Police's south precinct commander, said in a statement to Patch. "We will enforce the laws and ordinances of this county to protect the safety of other drivers on the road."

Police said an officer almost got hit by a speeding car Sunday night during the operation. The driver was arrested and his car was impounded, according to police.

Last year, two people police say were racing at more than 80 m.p.h. on Moreland Avenuewere sentenced to prison for a crash that killed three children. The 2015 crash happened on Moreland near Interstate 285 and the Starlight Drive-In.

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