ACCOKEEK, Maryland (AP) -- A car plowed into a crowd that had gathered to watch a street race on a suburban road early Saturday, killing seven people and injuring at least four, police said.


http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/16/dra....ap/index.html

 

The clip of the bodies spread out covered in white sheets is chilling.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/16/dra...ml#cnnSTCVideo

 

There were just bodies everywhere; it was horrible," said Crystal Gaines, 27, whose father was among the dead.

Gaines said she grabbed her child but could not help her father, William Gaines Sr., 61.

A child as well as a 61 year old at a 3:40am street race


Edit: Make it 8 dead

 

Underground Illegal racing has always exisisted.
Seems that the more upgrades become popluar and mainstream the more wanna be racers with no skills come out of the wood work to try their luck.
I saw a video recently where a photographer got killed...everyone ran away while the camera rolled.

When the price is right video of this will surface.

It will get worse.

 

So the car that hit all the people was just someone that happened to be driving down that stretch of road at night when there were fifty or so people standing in the roadway?

 

Yea it was dark and smokey. I wouldn't have expected a crowd of people on a dark road at 4am either! Would you? It sucks but what can you do it is a freak accident Idiots need to learn to use the drag strip and not the road IMO

 

Yes, after the cars took off, the crowd rushed out in the road to watch and a car came by that could not see the crowd due to the dark and smoke from the rubber. It is also believed that a tractor trailer that came by a short time later may have hit someone.

 

I really don't know when idiots like this will ever learn, a couple of years ago I came across a scene like this at 0330Hrs., on a Saturday night at work., it's sad that young lives are needlessly lost like this in these situations......

 

I wonder how many people can stop a car going 65 mph?

 

It's not a bunch of teens this time... and it wasn't the racers whom caused the wreck. Seems to be a paradox.

 

Actually all the reports at this time states it was the racers and the crowd themselves. They were showing off ahead of the race smoking tires. The driver of vehicle that hit the crowd which was in the roadway could not see them due to it being dark and the smoke from the tires. Would not be a bit surprised if the drivers of the cars will not be charged.

 

Seriously folks if your driving at 4am on a road and there is a white cloud oh jee wiz it's more fog who cares. You all are never going to think "oh crap there is white foggy stuff so there must be a crowd of people behind it watching a street race!" It was just a freak accident and it happens. People shouldn't be standing in the middle of the road and those guys shouldn't have been street racing IMO.

 

sounds like a good theme for Discovery channel programing ehhh?
This could have/ probably DID... Happen in the Fiftys, hell probably even with horse drawn races... so yaw don't get on your soapboxes now.
This is a tragedy, but blaming "punk kids" is ridiculous, making a bunch of new laws in a knee jerk reaction is as well a waste of time.
My Opinion, not to dismiss anyone else's entitlement to an opinion.

No I do not condone street racing, take it to the track. If you do street race, use common sense and communication devices, be safe about it.

 

[RANT ON]

I just finished watching Terminator, and the local Fox News came on after it. Their lead story was some expose on underground street racing.

Please don't misunderstand me... I am saddened by the loss of life and offer my condolences to those that lost loved ones. But do we really need some stupid investigative report into street racing? It's been around for as long as there have been wheeled vehicles, I'm sure.

I bet some of you other Metro DC folks can remember when all the new stations were talking about "kiddie car thieves" and how they went joy riding on DC streets. It was all they talked about for weeks. What's next, an expose on the meat packing industry and the recent recall?

Surely there has to be something new to report on... The President is in Africa... what's going on with that?

[/RANT OFF]

 

Well, its not like the people that got killed weren't doing anything wrong. The driver shouldn't get charged with anything.