What our examination found about Middletown street racing

On the night of Aug. 17, the parking lot at 4794 Roosevelt Blvd. in Middletown, with most businesses closed, was abuzz with vehicles made or modified for speed. Corvettes, Vipers, Hondas, BMWs, Mustangs, Audis, Teslas, and trucks were cruising the area with plenty of people hanging out talking “cars.”

It is loud and carries over to neighboring residential areas, but it is the actual quarter mile races that start about 11 p.m. that garner the most complaints.

“We have been out for a few weeks now trying to slow it down,” said Middletown Police Chief Earl Nelson. “It is dangerous and a problem for residents.”

On recent Saturday nights, Middletown police have been visible and handing out as many as 50 tickets for traffic violations, with a zero-tolerance policy for any infraction, according Nelson. And police now have the cooperation from the lot owners to trespass people after hours at both the Roosevelt Boulevard location and another gathering spot on South Breiel Boulevard.

A man was arrested last weekend when he refused to comply and leave, saying the lot was “private property.”

“They (police) run off a 100 people, then another 100 show ups up 30 minutes later from a different part of Ohio to race their cars,” Nelson said. “It does rotate through different cities throughout the week.”

In July, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed a bill to crack down on “hooning,” an increasingly popular form of stunt driving that has been a scourge for Middletown police and other cities across the state.

House Bill 56, now set to become law in 90 days, creates a new criminal offense for police and prosecutors to use against anyone shutting down a public roadway and knowingly participating in things like doughnuts, burnouts or wheelies or allowing their passengers to ride with their bodies hanging outside of the car. It also prohibits bystanders from intentionally blocking police from the scene.

The law will carry a first-degree misdemeanor charge plus drivers license suspensions and point penalties, will give police greater tools to stamp out hooning as it’s happening and punish those who are caught.

Dayton Mayor Jeffery Mims Jr. said Dayton police also have seen a lot of problems with street racing and have been called “a lot” for hooning as it’s gotten more popular over recent years. The mayor said west Dayton has been a hot spot for the activity, but it’s popped up in downtown and east Dayton as well, drawing the ire of neighborhood associations and forcing many drivers to avoid certain roads.

Additionally, the practice has resulted in injuries and even death and has put additional stress on Dayton-area roads, Mims said.

Drag racing policy

Nelson said specifically “drag racing” falls outside the department’s permitted pursuit policy, because of danger considerations to officers and innocent bystanders or drivers.

“We cannot pursue them,” he said. “And you can’t out run a radio. They can go as fast as they want. They have someone on the lookout and radioing ahead and scout cars. It’s a lot easier now with cell phones.”

Nelson said the 1/4 mile stretch of Breiel Boulevard is popular because it provides built in difficulties to “turn around on and stopping any participants,” even if an officer catches them lining up, which is required by law for drag racing charge.

So the strategy is for officers to continue to be a deterrent trespassing drivers and cars out of the parking lots before they begin racing.

Neighbors upset

Some residents are fed up with noise and the dangers, even posting signs saying their neighborhood is not a race track, but most admit to similar “cruising” in their youth.

Ruth Ann Helton lives on South Marshall Road and can hear the engines roar. She has also seen the throngs of people lining the streets waiting for a race.

“There are people lined up like it a parade. This is about 10 p.m,” she said. “I was shocked to see they are not just teenagers. Some are much older with gray hair.”

As a native Middletonian, Helton said she remembers cruising and watching racing on South Breiel in the 1990s.

“But when we were teenagers, it was just teenagers, maybe someone in their early 20s. It is not just kids hanging out anymore, that has changed,” she said. “We used to hear one or two cars, but now it is lots of them and they are not all from Middletown.”

Helton said she may be more tolerant than some, “because we did it too, but I don’t want to see anybody get hurt and I feel like that is what is going to happen.”