On March 25, a traffic court judge convicted two men seen last year in a viral street race video. The racing incident occurred last October near Leesburg Pike and Westwood Center Drive in Tysons. A video of the street race went viral on social media after Tesla CEO Elon Musk reposted it.
Christian Camacho, 48, of Vienna and Carlos Montero, 38, of Sterling, were found guilty on two charges. They were convicted of reckless driving and stopping on a highway. In the viral video, Camacho is seen driving a Tesla Cybertruck and Montero is seen driving a Lamborghini.
After being identified by Fairfax County Police detectives, Camacho turned himself in on November 1. Police charged him with racing and stopping on the highway. Montero was arrested the same day and charged with racing, stopping on the highway, and two counts of improper lane change.
Police then asked for the public’s assistance in finding the “flagger” who signaled the start of the street race. The flagger’s video of the incident was shown for the first time when he testified in court about the case.
Camacho and Montero will be sentenced in July. Both could be sentenced to up to one year in jail for their part in the viral street race.
New Legislation Addresses Street Racing
Virginia’s General Assembly recently passed legislation, HB 2036, that expands the definition of reckless driving to include street racing. It also establishes harsher penalties and “a process for impounding immobilizing motor vehicles driven by persons arrested for exhibition driving.”
Gov. Glenn Youngkin amended the legislation to include an emergency clause that would allow the law to take effect immediately upon his signature. The General Assembly is holding a special session on April 2 to vote on this and Youngkin’s other amendments.
“If on April 2, as I expect, we pass it again on a bipartisan basis, then as soon as the governor gets to it, hopefully given how pressing this is, he acts more quickly than he’s chosen to act in many other cases,” Fairfax County Delegate Dan Helmer told WUSA9.
Feature image courtesy @Am_Bluejay/X
