Southeast OKC Residents Fed Up With Street Racing

People in an Oklahoma City neighborhood are concerned, they say street racers are taking over after dark. 

This problem is nothing new to the Oklahoma City neighborhood near SE 23rd St and Central Ave. Last year News 9 reported on a massive street racing bust near Penn. Ave. Now a handful of residents in Southeast OKC say the problem is only getting worse. 

“They are getting away with doing it, so they are going to continue doing it,” said a neighbor who lives in the area and did not want to be identified. 

“The problem is when they start in the middle of the intersection who is to say that one of them isn’t going to lose control and hit one of the cars that are parked at nearby houses. Or if there is an altercation, a fight between them what if they start shooting?” she said. 

News 9 spoke to several neighbors and business owners in the area who also said the issue isn’t being addressed by law enforcement.  

“Something needs to be done to stop it, either put up cameras at the intersection so they can be monitored, or when they do start piling up then the intersections need to be blocked by cops and they need to be arrested and their cars need to be impounded,” said the neighbor. 

Oklahoma City Police back in August of 2021 executed an undercover operation that led to at least 70 arrests. 

“It is something that we take very seriously because it does pose a threat to the driving public, so we are going to address this as we see it,” said MSgt. Gary Knight, with the Oklahoma City Police Department back in 2021 when we interviewed him about the subject. 

“We call 911 and tell them that they have started their blocking traffic, and then it takes 10-15 minutes for any cop to respond and as soon as they hear the sirens they take off,” said the resident. 

We asked them about the current complaints about S. Central Ave. and they didn’t want to comment. Meanwhile, residents sit idle hoping for a solution. 

“Fear and anger, fear of them losing control of their cars. One of these days someone in that parking lot is going to get hurt,” she said. 

Those we spoke to today say cops did increase patrolling once for a couple of days, but the problem came back as soon as they left.