Street Racing Kills 1 and Injures 2
May 17, 2025
Los Angeles: Jonathan McGinnis, 19, was killed and two others were injured yesterday evening during a street racing traffic collision in Woodland Hills.
According to police, McGinnis, who was driving at a high rate of speed, died after his red Honda Civic crashed into a Toyota Corolla shortly before 9:00 p.m. in the 24000 block of Vanowen Street. Three parked cars were also damaged.
Witnesses told investigators that McGinnis was racing another car when he lost control of his Honda.
The two passengers of the Toyota Corolla, a student driver and her instructor, were taken to local hospitals where they are listed in stable condition.
Every year, illegal street racing grows in popularity, especially among young adults. This dangerous racing activity claims the lives of hundreds of drivers, passengers and innocent bystanders and thousands more are injured.
The Los Angeles Police Department aggressively enforces laws involving illegal street racing. Violators pay heavy fines, have their vehicle confiscated and lose their driving privileges.
Police are asking for the public’s help for anyone who may have witnessed the collision at Vanowen Street, between Platt Avenue and Valley Circle. Anyone with information is asked to call Valley Traffic Detectives at 818-374-1930 or 818-756-8381. On weekends and during off-hours, call the 24-our toll free number at 1-877-LAWFULL (1-877-529-3855).
Maybe if there were more outlets for racing available. Maybe have like race days or track days and education about racing. If people want to do it, there needs to be an outlet. I think that's the problem here.
Additionally, please be careful about calling regular speeders "racers". That's just unfair. Great caution should be excercised. I had a friend once who was learning stick and when he squeaked at a light, he got a really large "exhibition of speed" ticket.
Posted by: James K. Polk | May 17, 2025 at 06:49 PM
To hit, of all people, a student driver and her instructor. Yikes. That poor student will probably be a little less eager for that license now.
Posted by: Father | May 18, 2025 at 05:49 AM
I agree with James(above),about there should be some kind of Race Day or something similar. I live in MN. and we have a couple of legal drag strips here,but none are close to the Mpls/St. Paul city limits. If the cities somehow could open a race track ,theres a pretty good chance they would PROFIT from this,while keeping a majority of the street racers from racing in the streets. It's worth a try.
Posted by: Trammp | May 19, 2025 at 06:58 PM
There are multiple racing tracks in Los Angeles area including Irwindale, Palmdale, and Southern Orange County.
Maybe the local news should make as big a deal out of each of the several hundred murders each year in City of Los Angeles, or perhaps the several thousand violent rapes and assaults that occur each year rather than the very limited number of racing related deaths and injuries.
I wonder if LAPD, and the curious citizen realize that fewer deaths due to street racing occur NATIONWIDE than due to gang related violence within only the City of LA each year.
I really think street racing stories/news are of limited value to the average citizen. I'm far more concerned when I see Mara Salvatrucha letters six feet tall in my local park. Funny how this street racing news is the hot topic, not the several hundred violent home invasion robberies that happen each year in City of LA.
Posted by: Squeaky | May 20, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Street racing is just wrong, and I'm tired of hearing how it's everyone's fault but the driver of these cars when something goes wrong.
Why then is it that most street racing accidents involve youngsters, those ignorant about the dangers to innocent people and unwilling to accept that a motor vehicle is not a toy or racecar simply because it's also capable of going fast (with the right upgrades or effort).
I love cars, and I do love to go fast. But I've never attempted to race anyone on the freeway let alone a surface street, which is even more dangerous to pedestrians and innocent bystanders.
There are plenty of outlets for this. Dragstrips let you pay a fee to take your car there if that's what you're interested in, and there are also autocross events for people who want to drive an actual racecourse with turns. You can do this in your actual street car, with as many or few modifications as you wish.
If that's too much effort, there are indoor and outdoor karting tracks that let you race - some very cheaply. And very close to the real thing. Some are even at higher speeds or performance than "the real thing" - your own car. And you don't have to worry about breaking down or wearing anything out.
Posted by: bri | May 20, 2025 at 09:26 AM
Has any one checked on the owner of the motor home involved in this accident? It has been illegally parked at this location for about two years; he just plays tag with parking enforcement by pulling it around the block. There have been many near misses of vehicles north bound on Cleomore approaching Vanowen. When pulling away from the stop sign visibility of the east bound lane on Vanowen is completely blocked.
Posted by: West Hills neighbor | May 20, 2025 at 11:05 PM
It's not the police responsibility to give racers an outlet. Obey the laws, stop racing and this would not happen. Its been aproblem in West Hills for a long time. Vanowen, Woodlake, Platt ect.
Posted by: TK | May 21, 2025 at 10:26 AM
Johnathan was my friend, we went to school together at Hamilton High in Los Angeles. As i do agree that street racing is dangerous and could be very harmful to innocent people on the street...i am sooo sad to have lost somone wonderful. Johnathan had a great sense of Humor, was very friendly and always knew how to cheer somone up. He loved cars, everything about them. He always had Car Magazines on him. In computer class he did his power point on "How to build a great car". i know he never meant for this to happen, it is so sad that the thing he loved so much, led to his down fall.
i would like everyone to think about his family and how hurt they are right now.
R.I.P Johnathan.
Posted by: Mia | May 23, 2025 at 08:58 AM
Jonathan was a friend of my daughter's. They grew up together and were good friends.
Yes, he was racing and it was illegal, but the point has been missed.
As I looked at him laying in that beautiful, satin lined coffin with his boyhood baby blanket, I couldn't help to see a YOUNG MAN.
He had a few minutes of fun. Excited as his heart was beating, racing on a street as he loved to do. The whole thing is a lapse of judgement! Then, before he even knew it, his heart stopped permanently.
I thank Jonathan for opening my daughter's eyes. He did not die and become a waste or a statistic. My daughter was racing him on the freeway just a few short weeks ago, coming back from a mutual friends birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. She thought it was fun. She was lucky!
Now her younger brother wants to get his license and because of this, his eyes are open as well.
Jonathan, we are going to miss you more than you can ever imagine! Your love for life, children, your family (You were your Mom's Light! and Sister's heart!), your sense of humor and most of all, your smile...but I have to thank you for saving the lives of my two children and possibly the lives of many others.
A lapse in judgement can be the last thing you ever do!
R.I.P. Jonathan! We love you!
Posted by: Veronica | May 26, 2025 at 11:33 AM
I am so sad about the loss of John's son. John is the bus driver/motivator for a positive happy day at work, often at the wee hours of the morning...I feel like that beautiful spirited soul of his has been undeservingly crushed. He is so loved, so much more than he will ever know....
Posted by: Julie Miller | June 01, 2025 at 09:01 PM
As a fellow street racer I blame street racing on the lack of controlled enviornments where people can race and test there vehicles safely. Manufactures build there vehicles faster and faster every year (not to mention hundreds of after market parts on hand to make your car faster)and sell these vehicles to the public for what??? To let sit in your garage. YEAH RIGHT; to get white nuckles. How can manufactures sell fast vehicles but the city not provide a place for people to test there automobiles? If there was a track for people to race there vehicles how many lives do you think you'd save? How many accidents would be prevented? And how many trees do you think you'd save from having to write less tickets LOL. Theres no question about it. If there was a track then people will come. (oh well it costs to much); well so does a funeral. You charge a small fee and wal-ah it pays for it's self. On 6/23/06 I lost a very close friend of mine. He was speeding on his bike doing about 140mph entering a slight turn when his back tire hit the median and flung him off his bike. He hit many trees which killed him instantly (I think). I do know that they pronounced him dead before they even got to the hospital. Now the question is if there was a track would my friend still be here? I believe he would be because he would have been on the track showing off his new bike that night instead of doing it on the streets. In memory of my good friend James Flaherty
Posted by: Ian Mitchell | June 29, 2025 at 03:25 PM
Nowhere in the US Constitution, CA Vehicle Code, or any other piece of legislation in our country is there a guaranteed right to drive. It is a privilege extended to you only after you have taken the trouble to learn basic safety rules and prove you can drive like a sane human being during a license test.
When you take advantage of that privilege and choose to drive like an idiot and exceed the limitations of the car or the driver and plow into something as a result, DO NOT BLAME ANYONE ELSE FOR FAILING TO PROVIDE YOU A PLACE TO DRIVE LIKE YOU SEE IN THE MOVIES. You pulled the trigger, so you get to deal with where the bullet goes.
Speaking of limitations of the driver, it’s a little-known fact that buying expensive aftermarket parts, reading street racing magazines, watching Tokyo Drift, or simply driving fast all the time in your ridiculous ride with the park bench on the trunk DOES NOT MAKE YOU AN EXPERT IN HIGH-SPEED RACING. There is a good chance you will lose control and either kill someone or damage some property. And then what? Stick around and admit you were driving like a moron and lost control or just commit your hit and run and slink home? Any takers out there for how many times LAPD has heard any party to a collision with the integrity to admit they did that?
Street racers, you have the same rights as the rest of us. You are not being picked on. You are not owed anything by any government agency. Your driving style is inherently stupid and dangerous to innocents around you. Go find the legal tracks out there. They’re in Southern CA, just not in LA. You’ve got Internet access, so find them.
Posted by: Grade F | June 30, 2025 at 11:59 AM
well i think that most racer dont want to risk getting a ticket or getting their car impounded so they would like to take their car out to the track, but also im not going to lie i guess im a racer i like to build up my car its what me and my freinds do on the weekends that i have off instead of doing drugs and going out and commiting crimes, but most street racers dont have insurance and the proper protective gear to race on a track, i tried to race my car on the track and i had everything except one of my exaust mounts were broke so they told me i had to take my car home.
Posted by: tony | July 25, 2024 at 02:17 PM
now i know this post is very late...
and i know im from RI which is on the other side of the US but...
i am a street racer, and i enjoy it very much. Around here us street racers don't do it up and down the highway and what have you. We found an industrial park that is not active on saturday nights. Nobody enters this area at that time at all. The only reason why we race on the street, is because the closest dragstrip is epping speedway, which is a 3 hour drive one way.
And to tell you the truth, not a single cop has bothered with the area that we race in, EVER. Maybe the cops understand this and agree that the area we chose is perfectly fine.
I am sorry about the death of Jonathan and anyone else who has been killed by a STREET RACER as you call us. But Jonathan knew as well as anyone else what the consequences were. And do i believe that a closer dragway would help, YES and actually it couldn't even hurt.
As for the price of a speedway, the price shouldn't matter because i will guarantee that it will reduce speeders in the streets. And it will decrease the deaths due to that. Even if the speedway didn't make any money, the price of someones life is worth more than whatever amount they might lose.
im not saying that it is an obligation to build a track, but it is a very smart idea. And im sick of these people saying thatstreet racing is dumb, the only dumb part is that you aren't able to agree that they should put up a track. And i noticed someone mentioned the deaths from gangs and rapes and robberies. And what about the deaths from cigarettes, those kill more than anything combined in the US. So telling police that they should step up to these racers, when they should be out taking care of those problems that happen to be more important. only hundreds are killed by STREET RACERS a year. But only really read that if you want to talk about numbers.
So instead of complaining about street racers and how they shouldn't do it, try helping to stop or atleast reduce it, don't throw more gas on the fire and just say it isn't right.
and it isn't always YOUNG people whoever said that smart one. Another car and i just last year was cut off at an intersection, and we weren't even speeding. And you know what, the person in that car was a 73 year old lady speeding home, who decided to run a red light.
My friend kyle died that night, and all i gotta say is don't blame the young kids for this. Blame yourself for not caring enough, or trying to take care of something else mroe important.
Posted by: Brendan | November 08, 2024 at 07:00 AM
and just one more comment.
i know how it feels to be sitting next to your best friends dead body, not even 2 feet from me. Drunk drivers kill more people than STREET RACERS ever do.
Posted by: Brendan | November 08, 2024 at 07:03 AM