On Tuesday, August 14 at about 1 pm in the afternoon, Officer Mike Zamora was traveling east bound on Interstate Highway 20 getting ready to exit the freeway near Cooper Street. As he began to merge off the freeway, something captured his attention. Officer Zamora saw two vehicles engaging in a street race on the highway. He visually estimated their speed to be in excess of 100 mph with heavy traffic conditions. Officer Zamora reported that the two cars were weaving in and out of various lanes and posed an extreme danger to other unsuspecting motorists.

Officer Zamora notified dispatch and began to initiate a traffic stop on the two vehicles, one of them a blue Chevrolet Cobalt outfitted with a turbo booster and racing fin. The second vehicle immediately exited at Matlock so Officer Zamora made the decision to stop the lead car engaging in racing. The driver and passenger were both arrested during this traffic stop. The driver, a man in his teens was charged with racing. The passenger, a man in his 20s was arrested for misdemeanor warrants. The vehicle was towed to the city contract wrecker service.

It is important for the public to realize that a large portion of our fatality crashes involves speeding and other aggressive driving facts as a causative factor. The Texas Transportation Code defines the offense as: a race, a vehicle speed competition or contest, a drag race or acceleration contest, a test of physical endurance of the operator of a vehicle, or in connection with a drag race, an exhibition of vehicle speed or acceleration or to make a vehicle speed record. The offense is a class B misdemeanor for first time offenders and can quickly be elevated to a felony if someone has previous convictions or another person suffers injury or death.

Officer Zamora has been with the Arlington Police Department for 18 years. He has served in the patrol division, traffic division, and most recently has been assigned as a SWAT team operator for the past 2 years. The Arlington Police Department takes a zero-tolerance approach to engaging in racing and other aggressive driving behaviors on our area roadways.