The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted 3-0 on Tuesday to pass a motion toward tougher civil penalties for people participating in and watching illegal street takeovers.
Doubling the misdemeanor fines, county officials said this proposal is essentially a way to stop the street takeovers before they start, as they’ve become more common, and some cases deadly, in L.A. and nearby counties.
Just Sunday night, over 150 vehicles took part in what police called a “reckless driving takeover” in a Santa Ana shopping center.
In September, three cars attempting to start a street takeover crashed into a Metro bus in the Vermont Vista neighborhood.
These are just a few examples of what Supervisor Holly Mitchell said are often weekly occurrences, especially in some of the county’s unincorporated neighborhoods.
“I hear from seniors and young families who say, ‘Supervisor Mitchell, every weekend, every Friday, every Saturday night, we hear it, we hear the sounds and it’s coming closer and closer to our homes,’” Mitchell told KTLA’s Rachel Menitoff.
Mitchell has been leading the charge to double misdemeanor fines of $1,000 for people who organize, promote and attend these kinds of events.
Her proposal prohibits takeovers beyond public highways to include off-street parking areas.
It goes after the promoters too, including the people who publicize the takeovers on social media and who gain a large following by streaming the action live and collecting a paycheck in return.
The proposal would also facilitate “removing posts and demonetizing profiles that promote illegal sideshows on major social media platforms.”
When asked if Mitchell thinks this proposal will really deter the appeal of the street takeover, she replied, saying, “I am hoping it will. I know there’s not one singular solution, but I am really hoping that making you pay at a higher rate for participating, that along with our public education efforts for people to understand the true danger they are causing their own family, friends, neighbors and communities.”
According to statistics from SAFE (Streets are for Everyone), the last quarter of 2024 saw a 64% increase in street takeovers, with some neighborhoods seeing multiple events on the same night.
“Another aspect of the public health crisis is not only those people living in the community, but those attending, as well. Oftentimes times you’ll find that deaths occur because the car goes out of control,” said Brett Slaughenhaupt, the director of L.A. County Advocacy at SAFE. “This can’t continue to happen. We can’t continue to see these casualties, these injuries, these individuals continue to wreak havoc.”
Tuesday’s vote means the Board of Supervisors supports amendments, but they need to vote to adopt the amendments once written.
There will be another vote in the future to approve the amendment language.
