On October 7, the City-County Council voted unanimously to adopt Proposal No. 314, an ordinance written by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department to create revenue streams through fines and seizure of vehicles from events the police deem to be an “illegal street race” according to their own definition.
The ordinance is so poorly written that perfectly ordinary events could be considered “illegal street races” under its definition, making it ripe for abuse by racist cops. The ordinance would add a new section to the Indianapolis–Marion County Revised Code, which would read in part:
Illegal street racing may include, but is not limited to, situations in which:
- A group of motor vehicles or individuals has gathered at a location for the purpose of participating in such an event;
- A group of individuals has gathered on private property open to the general public without the consent of the owner, operator, or agent thereof for the purpose of participating in such an event;
- One (1) or more individuals have impeded the free use of a public street, sidewalk, highway, public or private driveways, airport runways, or parking lots by actions, words, or physical barriers for the purpose of conducting such an event;
This vague language could criminalize funeral processions, which impede the “free use” of public streets, as well as block parties, drive-by graduations, “trunk or treat” Halloween celebrations, and simply existing in public with others. IMPD said that the ordinance would not be used arbitrarily, but why should the people of Indianapolis trust their word?
The manufactured “street takeover” panic is being used to justify the record budget for IMPD, even though they have continued their deadly streak of killings of people in the city and don’t do anything to protect pedestrians, civilians, or even other car drivers from reckless driving that is already happening across the city. These funds could instead be redirected to a disarmed, civilian organization responsible for actually keeping the public safe.
Fines and seizures likely unconstitutional, piggish police only see dollar signs
Proposal No. 314 establishes hefty fines: organizers, promoters, and participants driving vehicles in events deemed “illegal street races” by IMPD “shall be fined not more than $1,000.” A former version would have capped this fine at $250, but would have also allowed police to fine spectators—anyone who was “knowingly a bystander or observer” of an “illegal street race,” even if they were press or someone who calls 911 to report the event—would have been fined $100.
Participants would also have their vehicles seized by IMPD for a minimum of 30 days, leading to a fee of at least $1,050 to get their car back. This fine would be higher if the court hearing drags out, as the vehicle can be held until the court reaches a decision. As IMPD explained in committee, their contracted tow and impound company charges $150 to tow and $30 per day. This fee still exceeds the $1,000 that participants “shall be fined not more than,” and is likely illegal anyway under Supreme Court precedent.
In 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Timbs v. Indiana that the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of “excessive fines” applies to state and local governments after the State of Indiana seized a Land Rover costing $42,000 under civil forfeiture after the owner, Tyson Timbs, was accused of dealing drugs. The Supreme Court ruled that seizing Timbs’s car violated the Constitution because it was designed to punish Timbs and exceeded the $10,000 maximum fine for dealing drugs under state law.
IMPD and the City-County Council have made clear that the seizure of cars is intended to be punitive. Leroy Robinson, who chairs the Public Safety & Criminal Justice Committee, told reporters, “We believe if we take their cars from them and impede their way of life, getting to work, going to school, driving their families around, that will help them change their minds.” This policy of taking cars being used as a punishment to make it harder to get around to work, learn, or exist with their family just goes to show the Council’s hostility to their constituents and contempt for services like transit that would actually benefit all workers—if IndyGo workers were paid like IMPD officers and their bus service expanded, this ordinance wouldn’t be able to be used to “punish” those without cars.
City lawyers and IMPD admitted that they don’t know if their ordinance would withstand legal scrutiny, saying that it and others like it across the country have not yet been tested in the courts. What is certain is that Indianapolis will waste money to defend this law in court if it is passed, if only to avoid funding people’s needs by addressing food apartheid, improving roads, or fixing run-down housing and instead adding to the repression of oppressed workers in Indy.
Concerns misplaced: IMPD is the real danger on Indy’s streets
The Indianapolis police have been fearmongering in the media about “street takeovers” for months, priming the public for exactly this kind of legal cudgel to wield against people. But where is the response to IMPD’s own lengthy record of killing people with their cars?
Rodney Huffman was 58 years old when he died Saturday, September 21, six days after an IMPD cop recklessly pulled out of a parking lot in his police cruiser and ran Huffman down as he crossed Michigan Road. That cop has not been named, his vehicles have not been impounded, and he has not been arrested.
Last year, Joseph “Fly Guy” Stiger was riding his bicycle down 10th Street when IMPD officer Mark Brown slammed into him at speed, killing him. Stiger was a father of two, whose children and family were denied justice when Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears, a Democrat, refused to charge Brown for his killing.
In May 2020, IMPD officers murdered Dreasjon Reed, McHale Rose, and Ashlynn Lisby all in the span of hours. Lisby was walking along a road with her partner when IMPD officer Jonathan Henderson struck her, killing her and her child, who was born at the hospital by emergency C-section but did not survive. Henderson never faced charges (neither did the cops who killed Reed and Rose), and a federal judge threw out the lawsuit filed by Lisby’s partner against him.
Even if IMPD didn’t have a lengthy track record of killing our neighbors themselves, their refusal to do anything about the crisis of reckless drivers without a badge killing and injuring pedestrians and bicyclists drives home the hollowness of their supposed concern about “street takeovers,” especially because, as Councillor Jesse Brown revealed, IMPD is not enforcing existing traffic laws and has no plans to start.
The real danger to Indianapolis is not “street takeovers,” but a racist, murderous police department whose officers never face accountability no matter how many people they kill, whether with their guns or their cars, and which actively ignores a crisis affecting working and oppressed people but leaps into action when they are affected. To truly bring public safety and criminal justice to Indianapolis, among other things, IMPD must be defunded and its killer cops charged and imprisoned.
Featured image: IMPD officers shut down Pennsylvania St. for their own performance in the 2015 Indy 500 parade. Credit: Sarah Stierch
