4 May 2021 | parkcitiespeople.com
News
TOO FAST, TOO FURIOUS, TOO BAD YOU HAVE NO MORE CAR Lawmakers craft bill designed to take keys from street racers - permanently Chief Jesse Reyes told a state house committee in March. But a new bill filed by state Reps. John Turner, Morgan Meyer, and Toni Rose may give police more in their tool kit the ability to permanently take the keys of the cars of repeat offenders or those who break other laws while racing. If passed, House Bill 2315 would let police seize and potentially forfeit cars used in street racing. First-time offenders would likely get ticketed, but repeat offenders and those who (for instance) were driving while intoxicated or with an open container of alcohol could find themselves without a car. “These events are already illegal,” Turner told the Texas House Judicial Jurisprudence committee. “But we do need additional tools.” Reyes and city of Dallas attorney Chris Caso testified in favor of the measure. “This is a tool that will help the police departments because we’re writing the tickets, and it’s not making an impact on these folks,” Caso said. Taking their cars, however, hits them
where it hurts. “This car is their baby,” Reyes said. “It’s their girlfriend. So this is another tool in our toolbox.” The Dallas City Council made it a priority to lobby the state legislature to provide officers with more enforcement options. “One of the legislative priorities of our city council this session is to expand enforcement tools available to DPD, so they can do more to stop street racing,” said Dallas city council member Cara Mendelsohn. The North Dallas Chamber of Commerce also supports the bill and sent a letter of support to the committee. “Dallas and Texans across the state have seen a significant increase in illegal and dangerous street racing in the last several years,” the letter read. “We support the proposed modifications to the code of criminal procedure to add civil asset forfeiture to disincentivize future street racing activities.” Check peoplenewspapers.com for updates as the bill moves through the Legislature.
This car is their baby. It’s their girlfriend. So this is another tool in our toolbox. Jesse Reyes
State representatives John Turner and Morgan Meyer, along with Toni Rose, authored a bill designed to allow police to confiscate cars used in street racing. (PHOTO: SALEH ZAFAR)
By Bethany Erickson People Newspapers
I
n the first week in April, Dallas police made 193 traffic stops related to street racing, towed nine cars, and made five felony arrests. But even with a street racing task force, officers know that with existing laws, they
can ticket spectators and drivers and tow vehicles, but it doesn’t serve as enough of a deterrent. “If we stop you … you can get arrested, your car gets towed, but as soon as you are released, you can take your paperwork to the auto impound, have your car released, and two days later you’re able to race again,” Dallas Police Department Assistant
HP-Bred Actor Charged In Capitol Riot ‘Believed These Were The Last Days’ By Rachel Snyder People Newspapers
Before going to the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot where he allegedly brandished a crutch, and charged at officers, Highland Park-bred Luke Coffee found QAnon conspiracy theories online. Coffee, 41, faces multiple charges in connection with the Jan. 6 riot, including assault of a federal law enforcement officer with a dangerous weapon and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, court documents show. “I can’t imagine — who possessed him to think the way that he was thinking because I don’t believe he was a Trump supporter. I believe that he truly believed these were the last days,” said Becky Jane Romine, a friend of Coffee’s who acted alongside him in the 2007 comedy Cake: A Wedding Story. “He said he was going — his intentions were not to create chaos when he went to the Capitol.” In late January, he told Texas Monthly from a Hill Country resort where he stayed and spoke with FBI agents before his arrest in
February that he went to Washington D.C. to “be part of history” and “to bring all this criminal behavior to light.” He returned to Dallas from Washington D.C. Jan. 7, and turned himself in at the Earle Cabell Federal Building and Courthouse Feb. 26. The chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia April 9 affirmed a magistrate judge’s decision to grant Coffee’s release pending trial under certain conditions, including that he submit to location monitoring and avoid all contact with “anyone associated with the incident on Jan. 6, 2021.” Prosecutors argued in court documents that Coffee had “charged at the officers while still holding the crutch” and posed a “serious risk of flight.” His defense lawyer, Jim Burnham, however, argued Coffee was “not a violent man, but rather a peacemaker” who “tried to stop the riots and prayed for peace.” People Newspapers reached out to the U.S. Marshals office of public affairs to confirm whether or not he had actually been released, but didn’t hear back by press time.
Authorities entered police body camera footage from the Capitol riot into evidence as part of a criminal complaint against Luke Coffee. (PHOTO: SCREENGRAB) Coffee graduated from Highland Park High School and went to Baylor University. After graduating from Baylor, he worked in Los Angeles for five years, during which time he worked as the post-production coordinator for such shows as Everwood and Las Vegas, according to his IMDb page. Coffee returned to Dallas around 2010 and started a production company.
He was dating a woman from Dallas who was killed in a hit-and-run crash in 2006 at the age of 22, Texas Monthly reports. Family members told the magazine that Coffee became withdrawn and depressed after the accident. “I’m telling you, it blew his mind when he lost (his girlfriend) so quickly...it messed him up,” Romine added. “He really loved that girl.”
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