San Diego police have an answer to illegal street racing: crush the cars

San Diego police announced Tuesday they have brought back an old practice — one that has not been used in 20 years – in their effort to combat local reckless driving and illegal street takeovers: court-ordered car crushing.

Street takeovers, also known as sideshows, generally involve spectators blocking intersections to create space for drivers to do potentially dangerous maneuvers, such as “donuts” and “burnouts.”

Investigators said these illegal group gatherings, as well as high-speed street racing, have become a focus for them in recent years due to the expensive damage they cause to public property and the risk of injury associated with them.

A 17-year-old died after crashing into a tree while racing another motorist in Chula Vista Monday night. And multiple street takeover events, coordinated over a single weekend last year, were attended by about 200 people and led to three arrests. In one of the gatherings in Spring Valley, it cost approximately $13,800 to clean, re-slurry and repaint an intersection.

“Street racing and sideshows are both dangerous events,” police Lt. Travis Easter said. “They occur in areas not designed for high speed maneuvers, bring together large crowds and vehicles operate at dangerous speeds with no safety controls.”

Detectives said that after years of attempting to fix the problem of reckless driving, they have brought back car crushing. Easter said police recently secured a court order for two vehicles – a Toyota Chaser and a Yamaha R1 – to be destroyed after they were connected to dangerous driving activities.

“You can give somebody a ticket, and it’s just a ticket. They can go on their way,” Easter said. “But (car crushing) is within the confines of the law and this is one of those things that can be utilized as a penalty and punishment for the first time in a long time.”

Easter said the Police Department department does not specifically track the number of arrests or injuries associated with illegal street racing and takeovers, but said the number of reckless driving arrests and citations have been on the rise in recent years.

The department’s officers recorded 74 reckless driving arrests and citations in 2023, 83 in 2024, and 2025 is on pace to have a higher number, based on the 49 arrests through July of this year, Police Department data shows.

Easter said someone’s car being impounded and crushed will be determined on a case-by-case basis and based on the egregiousness of the offense or the number of repeated offenses.

The main emphasis behind reintroducing car crushing, Easter said, is to deter future reckless drivers or, at least, make sure a particular car stays off the road.

“We want to emphasize this behavior will not be tolerated and (car crushing) is one of the consequences that can happen,” Easter said.