Neighbors Disturbed By Car ​“Gunshots”

Around 1 a.m. on weekends, Hill neighbors often hear what sound like gunshots — which actually come from the pipes of souped-up cars.

Members of the Hill North Community Management Team spoke with police on Tuesday evening about the noise.

“Is the fact that it sounds like gunshots something that is illegal?” asked Leslie Radcliffe.

Yes, answered Hill top cop Sgt. Justin Marshall: Any engine modification is a violation police can enforce.

He said his department tends not to chase down drivers for the violation, though, for the safety of others on the road.

“If we do try to enforce the motor vehicle violation, cars are often speeding away, not stopping,” Marshall said. ​“We have to take public safety into account before chasing a vehicle. Their cars are much faster than ours.”

The drivers often meet to street race at set times and locations, like the IKEA parking lot on the weekends. So Marshall said he focuses on keeping police cars visible in those areas. The department has also shut down parts of Long Wharf on Friday and Saturday nights to eliminate one of the favorite unauthorized race courses.

Radcliffe asked whether it would help the police to know where the engine modifications are taking place or where the cars are being stored. Marshall said that neighbors could reach out to him or the non-emergency police line with that information.

Hill North CMT Chair Howard Boyd said that police visibility has helped on Friday and Saturday evenings. Still, police are often focused on violent crime and robberies taking place and cannot always station officers at Ella T. Grasso Boulevard — drag racers’ new home, according to Boyd.

The drag racing has been going on for a long time. The city has continued to try various approaches to stopping it.

The loud pops and flashes from modified mufflers are a more recent trend.

“It’s all about personal opinion. Some people don’t like it. Some people do — usually younger kids, who are 25 and younger,” said Jonny Ven, who works at CT Discount Muffler & Brakes LLC.

“Kids like the sound of it. It makes them seem cooler, I guess.”

Ven is himself 22 and has a few friends who are car lovers. The shop where he works doesn’t make those kinds of modifications, so he has learned about the trend through peers.

Boyd has heard complaints about the trend for about four to six months.

“It’s disturbing to hear. There are a couple of elderly people in the area that think they are gunshots and think the police department’s not doing anything about random people shooting in the air,” Boyd said.

Boyd’s mother Ann lives near Ella T. Grasso Boulevard and can hear the sounds with her windows closed from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

Boyd went out himself once to investigate, he said. He watched 20 to 30 cars racing, plus a crowd of hundreds. The drivers had customized their cars’ engines and some had added lights underneath their cars. He knew one young man involved, who said the racers came from Bridgeport and Waterbury, as well as New Haven.

Is there a safe way to channel all of this passion and creativity? Boyd said he doesn’t think so, not with how fast the racers go.

“The chance of them hitting somebody or flipping, or hitting the next car — it’s really unsafe,” Boyd said.

Given the pressures on the police department, Boyd would like to see speed cameras installed on Ella T. Grasso Boulevard to take photos of cars going over certain speeds and send tickets automatically. Connecticut does not currently allow speed cameras on roads; there’s a bill at the state legislature that would allow this automatic traffic enforcement in school zones and construction sites.