Street racing is increasing in Puyallup. Here’s what the city is doing about it
Puyallup and other Pierce County cities are looking to combat a rise in illegal street racing by passing ordinances that criminalize watching such events.
Since 2016, 17 calls to the Puyallup Police Department have been identified as illegal street racing complaints. Thirteen of those calls — 76 percent — have come within the last year, according to police department data.
Many of the callers say the illegal street racers are on Valley Avenue, 23rd Avenue SW and Industry Park Way doing “burn outs,” “doughnuts” and “reckless driving,” according to the police data.
Police Capt. Dan Pashon said street race cars will do automobile tricks in industrial areas of Pierce County while others watch.
“Think ‘Fast and Furious’ stunts,” Pashon said.
Three of this year’s calls have been for activity on Industrial Park Way off Levee Road. Several warehouses, like the O’Reilly Auto Parts Distribution Center, have complained to police, Pashon said.
“Those industrial areas where there are lots of concrete and street areas, that’s perfect for this type of exercise because they are looking for clear, remote areas,” Pashon told The Puyallup Herald.
O’Reilly Auto Parts Distribution Center manager Josh Gronka told The Puyallup Herald center workers have seen up to 250 cars in the business’ parking lots.
For the last six months, Gronka said, drivers will head down, largely on weekend evenings, to do doughnuts and tricks on the property. He worries about street racers hitting the 45 tractor-trailers on site.
“They will park their cars in a formation like a circle or a perimeter, and they take turns watching each other go in the middle and flying down the street drifting around,” Gronka said. “It’s frightening for a lot of teams members because they feel intimidated. They don’t feel like their property is safe in the parking lot. They think their car is going to get hit, and they don’t approach these guys because there are just so many of them.”
Puyallup police recommend businesses work with the department to enforce trespassing laws and put up gates and cameras to deter illegal street racing.
A Tacoma incident spotlighted the increase in illegal street racing in Pierce County.
On Jan. 23, Tacoma police responded to a street racing call where about 100 people gathered on South 9th Street and Pacific Avenue while a cars did doughnuts. One responding officer, Khanh Phan, revved the engine of his patrol SUV and drove forward, running over at least one person and injuring six.
Police said Phan, who has been with the department nearly 30 years, feared for his safety because people were banging on his patrol car and yelling.
Anti-Racing Laws
Pashon said stricter laws in Auburn, Renton and Kent have pushed street racers and spectators into Pierce County. Those South King County cities have laws making it illegal to watch or participate in illegal street racing.
On Jan. 5, the Puyallup City Council passed a similar law deeming Levee Road, Industrial Way and Valley Avenue as “no racing zones.”
The laws also are known as “SOAR,” or “Stay Out of Areas of Racing.”
Puyallup Mayor Julie Door said while reckless driving and street racing is already illegal, the law allows police to cite spectators.
“If they can discourage the spectator part, they have a better chance of reducing the event themselves,” Door told The Puyallup Herald. “They travel and show up and intentionally have people who block police access to the scene so spectators and stuff can leave the scene.”
Door is concerned about property damage to businesses and illegal street takeovers in the area where people have died. Two women were killed after being struck at a November car meetup in Auburn.
“It perplexes me that we know lives have been lost and people can continue in spite of that,” Door said. “I really do not want to see someone die because of this issue.”
Pahson said Puyallup’s warehouses and distribution centers are relatively new, which might have led to the increase.
“Our industrial areas are new compared to Kent and Renton, and now they are additional stops on their route,” Pashon said.
Other cities with industrial districts, like Sumner and Fife, already have SOAR laws and are re-evaluating them. Sumner communications director Carmen Palmer said the city is looking to update its 2009 law to reflect “more recent trends.”
“Those updates will go through the process in March and April,” she said.
Fife’s law was passed in February 2020. Police Chief Pete Fisher said there has been no decrease in street racing calls within the last year, but officers have made more than 30 arrests using the ordinance.
“The ordinance is step one,” Fisher said. “Now there’s more than 30 people we aren’t dealing with again.”
He estimates Fife has seen up to 300 cars at one time performing stunts, doing doughnuts and blocking traffic.
Fisher said the city is exploring an amendment that will strengthen the ordinance, but details have yet to be finalized.
Pahson said police officers can feel outnumbered when responding to street racing incidents.
“We need to be in coordination with other agencies,” he said. “Officers arrive on scene and when those lights come on, they scatter. We have to wait for others to show up. We take enforcement action when we can, but we are outnumbered a lot of the time.”
Fisher and Pashon said they want departments to work together despite boundaries.
“We need to have a regional approach and combine our resources and move throughout the county to keep all the county safe,” Fisher said.
This story was originally published February 22, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
