POLICE TARGET DEADLY RACES IN VALLEY STREETS.

Byline: Jason Kandel Staff Writer

VAN NUYS - In the latest crackdown on street racing, police arrested 12 people during an illegal gathering early Wednesday and seized two souped-up Ford Mustangs, which they vowed to destroy.

The stepped-up effort came after the deaths Friday of two Valley Christian School seniors, both 17, in a street-racing crash in Sun Valley.

Acting on a tip, police from the Valley's auto-theft detail and traffic division, including some working undercover, descended on the 8000 block of Haskell Avenue just after midnight Wednesday and found 35 carloads of people lined up to watch and participate in races. Officers videotaped the event, then swooped in to make the arrests.

Along with two drivers, who were not immediately identified, police arrested the flagman and nine spectators, including five minors.

``This is a dangerous, dangerous activity,'' said Capt. Greg Meyer, who commands the Los Angeles Police Department's Valley Traffic Division. ``It's dangerous for the people involved. It's dangerous for innocent bystanders.

``There's been a lot of fatalities, there's been a lot of major traffic collisions, and the public's tired of it,'' Meyer said. ``The police and the Fire Department are tired of picking up the bodies, so we are cracking down on street racing.''

The five minors were cited and released to their parents. The other spectators were issued $50 citations.

The drivers were booked into the Van Nuys Jail on suspicion of engaging in street racing, and the flagman was booked on suspicion of aiding or abetting. Bail was set at $10,000 each.

After the arrests, police seized the Mustangs under a new Los Angeles city code that allows destruction of ``nuisance vehicles.'' If found guilty, the motorists face a minimum of 10 days in jail, a fine of $900, driver's license suspension and higher insurance rates.

``We're sending the message that if you street-race in L.A., it will not only cost you a couple hundred dollars for a speeding ticket, but it will cost you your car, and it will be destroyed,'' said Lt. Steve Allen of the Valley Traffic Division.

City Councilwoman Wendy Gruel, who sponsored the ordinance, lamented the fact that street-racing continues.

``You can die by drag racing. We're not going to give up on this until it stops.''

Police said the Mustangs confiscated in Wednesday's raid had illegal racing slicks and nitrous-oxide fuel systems that can propel the cars up to 130 mph.

The City Attorney's Office staff has seized seven cars used in speed contests since the new law became effective, said office spokesman Frank Mateljan. Next Wednesday, police intend to destroy the first car, a Camaro, seized under the new law last year.

The raid came four days after Nicholas Roth and Christopher Oliver were killed and Michael Lee, also 17 and a senior at Valley Christian, was critically injured in a street race. Police said Roth and Lee were passengers and Lee was driving when he lost control of his Chevrolet Camaro, which veered into opposing traffic and crashed head-on into a pickup truck in the 9900 block of La Tuna Canyon Road in Sun Valley.

Lee, who underwent brain surgery at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, could face charges in the deaths of his friends and for the injuries, described as moderate, to the pickup truck driver.

Police were seeking the driver of another pickup truck - a light-blue Ford F-150 - who might have been racing Lee, but who fled after the crash.

Friends of the dead teens, both former football players, were expected to hold a memorial service Saturday before Village Christian's football game against Montclair Prep.

Just a month before the two deaths, Aram Aleksanyan, 19, of Van Nuys was fatally injured when he lost control of his speeding car, which slammed into a tree and ricocheted off two parked cars that burst into flames on Victory Boulevard near Friar Street in Woodland Hills.

Police said Aleksanyan was racing Louis Blaine Rodgers, 24, of Reseda, who was arrested and faces charges of driving under the influence of alcohol and vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.

Traffic-related deaths in the Valley have jumped 17 percent, totaling 69 so far this year, compared with 59 in the same period last year.

City News Service contributed to this report.

Jason Kandel, [phone]

jason.kandel(at)dailynews.com