150 Arrested, 35 Cars Towed in Crackdown on Cruising

The city of Pico Rivera got tough on cruising Sunday, with 150 arrests, two confiscated weapons and 35 towed cars, in an attempt to clear boulevards clogged by weekend drivers, Los Angeles County sheriff officials said Monday.

“This cruising thing has gotten to be a pretty big problem,” said Lt. Ken Johnson of the Pico Rivera sheriff’s station. “This is a nice, quiet, calm city, except when the cruisers come,” he said.

In an attempt to thwart the swarm of cruisers who regularly shut down streets with their cars, city officials recently implemented an anti-cruising ordinance that prohibits drivers from passing the same spot more than once in the same direction within four hours.

Police were prepared in advance Sunday to deal with expected traffic tangles after a car show in El Monte.

With a beefed-up sheriff’s presence, officials arrested cruisers for stopping their cars, blocking the street, stepping out of moving cars, anything they could do to keep the flow of traffic moving, Johnson said.