Proposed Indiana law would allow police to seize, auction off cars involved in street racing

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — A proposed law would put the brakes on cars street racing in Indiana.

Two Indiana lawmakers are taking a page from Louisville Metro Police, who can seize a car that is used in spinning events and hold it up to a year in the impound lot. This proposed Indiana legislation goes one step further, allowing police to not only seize the car, but auction it off.

Indiana Sen. JD Ford, Democrat from the north side of Indiana and co-sponsor of the law, said "a slap on the hand is not enough," and current state laws don't do enough to stop these events.

"The people taking part would be looking at some jail time, some prison time, if you are caught a second time that is when you could have your vehicle seized," Ford said.

The seized cars in Indiana would be auctioned off to pay fines and cost associated with the investigation. Excess money would go to the general fund of the town or city where the car was seized.

"And I think this is really the heart of this," Ford said.

Many of these spinning events have become social media gold, you have seen the videos of cars spinning around as drivers routinely ruin perfectly good tires for the social media attention. It was a social media sticker that led police to a notorious street racer here in Louisville a few week ago. Organizers of these events could also get charged.

"Part of this bill says if you are one that is organizing these then you could potentially be tagged with some of these violations if you are posting on your social media hey come out and join us, if you don't think law enforcement is looking, they are," Ford said.

Also under this law, street racing drivers could face a felony if a passenger or by-stander is injured.