Crackdown On 'Fast And Furious'-Style Street Racing: Bellone

SUFFOLK COUNTY, NY — A band of "fast and furious" drivers caught trying to drag race along the Long Island Expressway in Suffolk County were busted Thursday night, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said.

Suffolk County Police, he said, received "numerous" calls, with officers from multiple precincts, as well as highway, special patrol units and aviation responding to the drivers who were "conducting races across Suffolk County" and threatening safety on roadways.

According to Suffolk County Police, vehicles came together to gather near Island 16 Cinema in Holtsville and began moving west but the department utilized multiple enforcement efforts and was able to break up the groups before any races occurred. Members of the department issued 27 summonses during the crackdown, police said.

It was key that police were able to stop the street races from occurring, Bellone said. "This is a major concern," Bellone said. "It's important for people to understand — you have these incidents where people are racing and thinking it's like the movies, but in the movies, things always seem to work out in the end. That's not how it works in real life. What we saw last night is how people get killed."

Street racing, Bellone said, is not something county officials or police will tolerate or accept.

Because Suffolk County Police was able to activate its assets and organize a detail quickly, the racing was thwarted and what "would have could have been tragic was averted," he said.

County officials, Bellone said, want to send a message, saying that street racing can be deadly. "We are doing everything we can to reduce deaths and injuries on our roadways. This is not the 'Fast and the Furious.' This is not the movie, where everything is glamorous and works out in the end. This is real life and in real life, when people do this on our roadways, people get killed," Bellone said.

Suffolk County Police Chief of Department Stuart Cameron said unlike in the movies "people that get killed on the roadways don't happen to come back to life."

The cars on Thursday night, he said, "fanned out" across the LIE, reducing speed to create gaps in traffic that created risk on the roadway to motorists and others who may have pulled over to the shoulders as racing cars came near.

The racing also sparked quality of life concerns; across Suffolk County, there have been a variety of locations during the summer where street racers have met up, including park-and-ride areas surrounded by residential homes, Cameron said.

People who live in those homes have complained about loud music, screeching tires, and other noise issues, he said.

Aviation was used Thursday night, Cameron said, because "even if you're in a modified racing car, you won't be able to elude our helicopters." Aviation was used to track drivers that attempted to flee, so that ground pursuits did not have to commence.

"The message is: Suffolk County Police are very much able to deal with this on the fly and we will not tolerate it in Suffolk County," Cameron said.

For years, motorsports enthusiasts have advocated for a drag strip at Enterprise Park at Calverton or at other locations across the East End or Suffolk County, similar to what once existed at Bridgehampton and Westhampton. They have rallied to urge officials to build a facility so racing could continue safely at a space not near any residential communities.