LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville Metro Police Interim Chief Paul Humphrey briefed reporters on the department's latest efforts to stop street racing in its tracks Wednesday, and released a picture of a suspect seen jumping on an officer's marked patrol car early Sunday morning.
LMPD is working to identify and arrest the person in the photo, as well as anyone else involved in Sunday's incident near Iroquois Park.
During Wednesday's briefing, Humphrey promised that officers will hunt down and arrest people who have taken part in street takeovers and racing, and that includes spectators blocking streets, even if they aren't taking part in the races. Once identified and arrested, those people will have their cars impounded for up to six months.
Humphrey said they've found that arrests and fines don't deter street racers -- but seizing vehicles gets their attention. He promised the owners that officers will continue to seize the vehicles that owners have spent thousands of dollars on, and they will sit outside for months in the impound lot. And that includes the vehicles seized early Sunday morning near Iroquois Park.
"If you have a car that you've put $150,000 into, a reckless driving ticket is like water off a duck's back to you, you really don't care about that, and that's what we found," Humphrey said. "But what you do care about is that your car that you care about so much is gong to go sit on the impound lot for the next six months, and there's nothing you can do about it."
During the incident, vehicles blocked all lanes of traffic on New Cut Road to spin donuts and burnouts at the intersection. At one point people jumped onto an LMPD cruiser, forcing it to drive in reverse.
"There was a high, high potential on Saturday night for someone to be seriously injured," Humphrey said. "Fortunately, that's not what happened. We are not going to tolerate that type of behavior. You are not going to put officers from LMPD in danger. You're not going to put the public in danger, plain and simple."
If you recognize the man shown in the photo, or know of anyone else involved in street racing near Iroquois Park over the weekend, call the police tip line at 502-574-LMPD. You do not have to identify yourself.
Tips can also be submitted anonymously through the department's Crime Tip Portal by clicking here.
Humphrey also shared crime statistics during LMPD's first bi-weekly press conference. Humphrey said the numbers are usually similar when it comes to fatal and non-fatal shootings, but that's not the case this year.
Police report a significant decease in the number of robberies and car-jackings from this time last year. Humphrey said there have been significant arrests when it comes to homicides, non-fatal shootings and federal indictments.
"Our homicide numbers are up about 8% while our shootings are down about 7%," Humphrey said. "Usually those numbers will correlate so it's a little odd this year that we have a drop this year that we have a drop this year in overall shootings so that's a very good sign. However, an increase in the lethality of those shootings so that's something that we need to look into and understand a little bit better. One of the things we are very proud about is our reduction in robberies. Obviously, that's a very violent crime that victimizes people but we have had a 33% drop in business robberies over the past year to date."
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- Louisville police impound several vehicles for street racing
- Dozens of arrests, impounds highlight 1st year of street racing ordinance in Louisville
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