Man accused of street racing through Lake Nona
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - The Florida Highway Patrol arrested a 30-year-old man for street racing early Sunday morning, in the middle of a stretch of Lake Nona Boulevard marked with black skid marks.
"They're racing; you can see all the skid marks. The one that passed by me was doing at least 80 or 90 mils per hour," said Francisco Esteban.
Esteban is fed up with the street racing that's going close to his home. He's thankful to hear troopers arrested Michael Lee early Sunday morning. Troopers say Lee's car was stripped down and modified for speed.
"This driver's car was completely gutted out. It had nothing in the car but a driver's seat. You're trying to lose weight on your vehicle, you're trying to gain speed on everybody," said Trooper Steven Montiero.
According to Lee's arrest affidavit, an FHP Sergeant could see a crowd of cars set up from State Road 417, and once he pulled up to Boggy Creek Road and Lake Nona Boulevard, he watched four separate races before Lee sped passed him.
Esteban says he has seen it several times and the racers are getting bolder.
"It was probably 9 o'clock and they were already setting up here. There were about 25 to 30 vehicles the ones that are low and prepared for racing, they were racing in the street as I was driving home," said Esteban.
At the scene, FOX 35 found three greasy bearings in the middle of the make shift race track that likely popped out of busted axles along with a chunk of a tail pipe. Along the sidewalk, we found empty energy drink cans and beer bottles where troopers say spectators were standing. Esteban says it's a recipe for disaster.
"It worries me also there's a hospital here, a veterans hospital and there's also a children's hospital."
Trooper Montiero recognizes there's an issue. The FHP has recently made three street racing arrests out there in the past 30 days. For us that's a spike. That's a problem," said Montiero. He says troopers will keep making arrests until the racing stops.