A man described by the Police as one of the most prominent prosecutors of the street races of southern California has been accused by the prosecutors of Los Angeles County of 16 conspiracy positions to organize a series of calls calls street acquisitions.
Erick Romero Quintana, 22 years December 2022 to November 2023, according to a criminal of the complaint.
In one of those events, a 24 -year -old girl died after a rotating car became the crowd.
Street racing events have proven to be a mortal part of the largest car culture in southern California. An investigation of the Times discovered that at least 179 people were killed in incidents related to the ration of the street between 2000 and 2017. Although people often think of street races, since the speed competitions one by one to one of a quarter of a mile highlighted by the first deliveries in the “fast and furious” cinematographic franchise, the so -called synthesis or acquisitions often can also be dangerous.
In acquisition events, runners and spectators rush at an intersection and block traffic, while motorists perform acrobatics in a small space with little space between the asphalt they are sliding and the audience itself. Drivers often perform “exhaustion” or “donuts”, trying to see how many times their car can turn in a circle, or compete to see who can slide closer to a fixed object without colliding with him.
The charges presented against Quintana represent a novel approach for the objective of the people involved in the scene of the races that are not drivers. Sergeant Arnold Castellanos, a member of the LapD Racing Street task force, said the first prosecution is a necessary step.
“Street acquisitions have become much more than just cars doing donuts. Over time, 'automobile clubs' have been formed, these cars 'clubs compete' with each other to see who has the best drivers and can 'intimidate' other drivers of the well,” said Castellanos. “This has intensified tensions and has resulted in cars clubs that act as gangs.”
Quintana must return to the Court in July. Each conspiracy count involves a minimum prison sentence of 16 months.
Los Angeles Dist. Atty County. Nathan Hochman said the charges against Quintana are the beginning of a broader effort to control street corridors. Hochman said that acquisitions can attract large and rebel crowds, which commit secondary crimes in the areas where they take place. He pointed to the Grand Mafia that he made his way in a Compton bakery and stole it after an acquisition last year.
“People like Quintana are the ones that gather the street corridors and the spectators, they are as responsible and responsible for the crimes committed as all the other participants in the conspiracy,” said Hochman.
Quintana's lawyer Bart Kaspero said he was “perplexed” for the case police approach. Although he did not play that Quintana was behind the account or published acquisition locations, he said that his client did not attend the events or lead any of them. He compared the prosecution of accusing someone who delivered flyers to a part where a crime was committed.
“Pointing to the guy who has just announced where the meetings are is a bit excessive,” he said.
Kaspero described his client as a mere “car enthusiast” and rejected the representations of the police and street acquisition prosecutors as paradises of crime, or the idea that his client should have known that something bad would happen in the events he supposedly organized.
“I think it's sure to say that most people who are there are there for a show,” Kaspero said.
Hochman said it would be impossible for Quintana to argue that he did not know that something dangerous could happen in an acquisition event, taking into account that he allegedly organized 15 additional acquisitions after a woman died at the Christmas Day event for which she published locations in Hyde Park.
Castellanos said that Quintana's account would publish Instagram stories with “symbols or abbreviations that coincided with intersections that allow everyone to respond in Flash Mob and overwhelm the location.” He said that people like Quintana exploit the “butcher shop” that occurs in acquisition events to obtain online influence, hoping that they will win enough followers to monetize their accounts.
Castellanos said that people who attend acquisitions have a “Grand Theft Auto” mentality, invoking the popular video game franchise where players can convert the pixelated versions of Los Angeles, Miami and New York into victims victims without right, “where people believe they are untouchable and do not fear the application of the law or the criminal justice system.”
