Teen charged after trying to race unmarked cop car

An 18-year-old driving his parents’ new car on the highway near Windsor today tried to race an unmarked police car this morning, reaching 160 km/h before he was arrested.

Sgt. Cam Woolley of the OPP said the detachment commander with Chatham-Kent OPP was driving toward Windsor in an unmarked Chevrolet Impala with tinted windows when a young man pulled up alongside him in a Chrysler 300. The driver tried repeatedly to get the uniformed officer to race, not allowing him to pass and travelling at higher and higher speeds.

When the Chrysler’s speed reached 160 km/h, the officer stopped the young motorist out of concern for safety.

“The officer didn’t want to go higher,” Woolley said. “He felt the young man would have kept increasing in speed.”

The young man is a beginner driver at the second stage of the graduated licensing program, with a G2 class license.

Woolley said, “He was playing tough guy until he got stopped. Then he cried until his parents got there.”

The young man’s licence has been suspended and the car impounded for a week. The minimum penalty for street racing is a $2,000 fine.

The officer’s unmarked Chevrolet Impala does not look like a police car and is used to hunt for aggressive drivers.

The incident occurred just days after an 85-year-old Thornhill man was charged under street racing legislation which came into effect on Sept. 30. Police say the elderly motorist was driving at 161 km/h. He is the oldest person charged under the new legislation.