Summerlin-area residents dealing with loud motorists at night

Some residents living along West Alexander Road say they are not getting much sleep these days because of street racing.

“There are motorcycles and hot rods going up and down Alexander, they turn around at Fort Apache (Road) and go up past Hualapai (Way) all hours of the night and day,” said Chris, who lives in the area and asked that her last name not be used. “We have to sleep with earplugs and they still wake us up at all hours of the night.”

Another resident, Jason, said his 9-year-old daughter’s bedroom faces Alexander.

“She comes into our bedroom at 2 (a.m.) and says, ‘They’re waking me up again,’” Jason said. “You call 311 but you’re on the line forever or the call drops, and I don’t have the time to sit on hold.”

The neighbors said there’s a group of four or five kids who ride dirt bikes. The ones not riding act as lookouts.

The Metropolitan Police Department said it is aware of the problem. The motorists ride off into the desert once police approach. Officers can’t pursue them because their motorcycles are unsuited for the desert or they are in patrol cars.

“We’ve been dealing with the issue,” said police Capt. Vincent Cannito, who oversees the traffic bureau. “These street racers are nuts. They do stupid things and are very difficult to catch. But once we identify who these people are, we can go to their house and serve a search warrant, take their motorcycles and impound them.”

Cannito said Metro has implemented a program with impounded motorcycles.

“We were able to successfully impound three brand new, speed demon motorcycles, and once we take ownership, we take them to the junkyard and in (a video) show the bikes being torn apart,” he said. “They’re brand new, they probably owe a lot of money on them and they’re still responsible for the (payments).”

Metro also uses security video from gas stations to identify the owners. Lt. Nick Farese said Metro “sat on a house for two weeks” which resulted in catching a couple of street racers and issuing tickets.

“Parents need to start being parents, because a lot of these people are juveniles,” Farese said.

Northwest Area Command Capt. Richard Fletcher said residents’ reports and photos can help catch the traffic violators.

“In order to go after the parents, we have to build a case. It’s not just one or two times. We need to show a pattern,” Fletcher said.

Meanwhile, residents in the area are gritting their teeth whenever the activity starts up again.

“I saw them on the corner of Tee Pee (Lane) and Alexander and the parents were there with a stop watch, at 2:30 (a.m.), watching their kid racing for over an hour,” Chris said. “Who in their right mind is going to be doing that?”

To reach Summerlin Area View reporter Jan Hogan, email jhogan@viewnews.com or call 702-387-2949.