Cars Seized After Cop Sees Drag Race

BURKE, Va. - Two teenagers have been charged with illegal street racing after starting a race on Burke Center Parkway with a Fairfax County Police Officer directly behind them.

Oscar Cornejo and Louis Violetta, both 18 and both from Burke, were charged with racing on a highway after an officer pulled up behind the two at an intersection. The officer witnessed the drivers of the 2003 Volkswagen GTI and 1987 Toyota Supra allegedly spinning their tires and revving their engines Tuesday night. Once the light turned green, the drivers took off at a high rate of speed, police say.

Fairfax County Police spokeswoman Camille Neville says the cars of the teens have been impounded.

"We are allowed to impound cars until the court proceedings, " Neville says. "If convicted, the cars can be seized."

There has been a renewed focus on street racing since eight people died in Prince George's County, Md., when a car plowed into a group of people gathered to watch an illegal street race.

Anyone convicted of racing in Fairfax County is subject up to a year in prison, loss of vehicle, license suspension for up to two years, and a maximum fine of $2,500.

The county arrested 19 people for illegal street racing last year, Neville says.

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