Drivers, organizers and participants of Connecticut street takeovers are one step closer to facing significantly harsher punishments after the passage of HB 5413 by the Connecticut House of Representatives.
“I think we all have heard from our constituents and we’ve all seen the TV reports about street takeovers that are occurring, not just here in Connecticut, but frankly, throughout the nation,” said Rep. Steven Stafstrom (D-Bridgeport), Chair of the House Judiciary Committee. “This bill before us seeks to give more tools to our municipalities in order to combat street takeovers.”
Street takeovers are when groups of drivers and onlookers come together to shut down streets, intersections, or parking lots for the purpose of doing vehicular stunts, such as drifting. Takeovers are typically loud, disrupt flow of traffic, and endanger the safety of both drivers and onlookers. Officers have had trouble combating these takeovers, as the crowds performing them often greatly outnumber responding officers. Connecticut has recently seen an uptick in takeovers, so much so that the FBI has a tip channel seeking information on takeovers that occurred in Bridgeport, Hartford and New Haven.
The bill will allow for the destruction of vehicles seized during takeovers, allow municipalities to enact steeper fines for violators, enable the state to permanently revoke the licenses of repeat offenders, and remove past protections for vehicle owners involved in takeovers.
In the past, any vehicle confiscated or ordered to be forfeited for its use in a street takeover was sold at public auction. While municipalities can still choose to auction off confiscated vehicles, under the new law, they can now opt to destroy them instead. Municipalities can also fine violators up to $1,000 for their first violation, up to $1,500 for their second, and up to $2,000 for any subsequent violation. Municipalities can also impound violators’ vehicles until these fines and any associated costs, such as towing fees or overdue property taxes, are paid.
It also changes state laws to enforce harsher penalties for those involved in street takeovers. Anybody whose found participating or showing intent to participate in a takeover, as well as anyone found betting on, timekeeping, judging, inciting, or recruiting participants to takeovers will be punished with 45-day license suspensions for their first two offenses, and permanent license revocation on their third violation.
Under past law, vehicles involved in takeovers could skirt municipal confiscation orders if the person or party who sold it still had a financial interest in the vehicle, such as in the case of a loan, and did not know the owner intended to use it for takeovers. Under the new law, municipalities can now provide 30-day written notice to the legal owner or lienholder of the vehicle to notify them that the vehicle will be confiscated.
While the bill initially stipulated the creation of a grant program administered by the Office of Policy and Management (OMP) to provide grants of at least $500,000 to aid municipalities with combatting takeovers, an amendment was passed to remove this clause. While lawmakers agreed with the spirit of this provision, they cited current budgetary restraints as the reason for its removal.
“This amendment seeks to strike that provision for the time being so that we can allow the rest of the good sections of this bill to proceed, without that referral to the dubious appropriations committee,” said Stafstrom, who introduced the amendment.
Rep. Craig Fishbein (R-Middlefield) also spoke in support of the amendment, which ultimately passed with a vote of 137-10. The bill itself passed with a vote of 148-0.
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