New FL Law Allows Police to Arrest Street Racers for Misdemeanors Based on Video

Part of the new law adds street racing and street shows to a list of exceptions for misdemeanors where the police don’t have to physically see the incident take place. That means just seeing a video showing one of those incidents allows law enforcement officers to track down those involved based on the vehicles, license plates or people filmed.

Florida Sen. Jason Pizzo said he remembers the look on the faces of the transportation committee members when he showed them a gruesome video of a decapitated woman’s head lying on the sidewalk.

The video posted to Instagram showed dead bodies — including the headless woman — lying on the ground in Miami Gardens after a “street takeover” — blocking and occupying intersections or parking lots to perform doughnuts and other car tricks — that had gone wrong.

“The video resembles the chaos more likely found after a bombing in a war zone,” Pizzo, a Democrat representing parts of Miami-Dade County, said.

Pizzo introduced a bill earlier this year that was co-sponsored by former Sen. Ray Rodrigues, a Republican who did not seek reelection this fall. The bill passed unanimously in both chambers and was signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier this year. It went into effect on Oct. 1, TampaBay.com reports.

Part of the new law adds street racing and street shows to a list of exceptions for misdemeanors where the police don’t have to physically see the incident take place. That means just seeing a video showing one of those incidents allows law enforcement officers to track down those involved based on the vehicles, license plates or people filmed, Pizzo said.

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