Street racing broken up at Costa Mesa, Santa Ana border

A street takeover involving an estimated 500 cars was broken up by police on Tuesday night near the border of Costa Mesa and Santa Ana.

Costa Mesa police spokeswoman Roxi Fyad said in an email that officers were dispatched and responded to reported activity of vehicles racing and nearby onlookers in the area of the Sunflower Avenue and Sakioka Drive intersection. The response came at approximately 7:54 p.m.

Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said that approximately 500 cars were racing and doing doughnuts in intersections.

While the Costa Mesa and Santa Ana police departments did not report any arrests, Bertagna said that one driver fled and was not caught after crashing a car into the center median of Bristol Street during a pursuit.

Bertagna connected the incident to a tradition called “cruising,” which he said typically begins Easter Sunday and runs through the rest of the year.

“In the old days, it was the car clubs that would dress up the older cars that people put a lot of money into, and they would congregate at various locations,” Bertagna said. “It was mainly car clubs, which in the last couple years, morphed into a lot of the street racers are coming out, as well.”

Bertagna said the street racing was not out of the ordinary, although he noted such activity mostly happens on the weekends and that the larger volumes usually come out in the summertime. He said his department has even closed major streets like Bristol, Main and Harbor Boulevard on Easter Sunday to put a stop to it.

“What occurred is not unique,” Bertagna said. “The fact that there were 500 people there in the middle of the week is out of the norm, but again, it was Cinco de Mayo. Whether that was the reason they were there or not, I don’t know.”

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