Police must continue special effort to stop LI highway racers 

Street racing, a dangerous and illegal "sport," has been taking place all over the United States for years. Towns and cities in many states find ways to crack down, but the impact may be sporadic and temporary. Officials know full well that they’ll need to pursue the problem again and again, sooner or later, until crazed players hopefully get the point they just can’t do it any more around here.

Long Island has not been immune.

Last Friday, at about 9:45 p.m., a pair of 20-year-old men brought the problem home once again on the Long Island Expressway in Shirley, Suffolk County police said. They were found racing at an eye-popping 109 miles per hour — with their headlights off on a dark stretch of road.

The pair, identified as Evan Hacker of East Patchogue and Randy Lopez of Middle Island, were stopped near Exit 68 by officers of the Suffolk County Police Street Takeover Task Force. The task force was formed in November after another widely-publicized incident involving as many as 100 vehicles in Islip that featured a fiery crash and a police officer who was attacked and injured by a group associated with the "event." Lopez and Hacker had their vehicles impounded and are due back in court in Central Islip Feb. 27. They were charged with an unlawful speed contest and reckless driving. It is fortunate no one was injured or killed by their dangerous behavior.

News of the arrests was satisfying on three counts. First, the task force is clearly in working order. Second, cops were on the scene to stop the reckless proceedings. And third, they reportedly monitored social media for planned "takeover" events. 

Unfortunately, chasing offenders driving at excessive speeds can be quite dangerous for police, another pointed story. Suffolk Police Officer Brendon Gallagher was involved in a routine traffic stop Jan. 5 between Exits 57 and 58 on the LIE when Cody Fisher of Brentwood sped past him at 100 miles per hour. Gallagher bravely tried to pull Fisher over but Fisher's Mustang struck Gallagher’s police vehicle causing it to flip on its side and hit a tree. Gallagher nearly died from his injuries but after 22 days in the hospital he had recovered enough to be sent home.

Highway horrors are everywhere. The Grand Central Parkway in Queens was reportedly dominated by a band of drivers a few Sundays ago. Right now, it seems, this region is in crackdown mode. The NYPD last month announced the formation of a new task force to fight drag racing and highway takeovers in the five boroughs.

Speed alone has taken too many lives on Long Island. The latest available data for 2022 links 65 deaths on Nassau and Suffolk roads to speeding. For now, police monitoring must be kept up and stepped up — with a mix of new technology and old-school presence. It seems like the only way to reduce the carnage.