Las Vegas made a statement this week, and it came with the sound of crushing metal. On Wednesday morning, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department held a press conference at SA Recycling on North Nellis Boulevard to watch two seized vehicles get fed into an industrial shredder. The cars in question: a 2009 Infiniti G37S and a 2007 Nissan 350Z, both sporty rear-wheel-drive platforms that have earned devoted followings among driving enthusiasts. Their owners had other uses in mind.
Both vehicles had been seized following criminal activity tied to street takeovers and felony evasion on Las Vegas roads. Sheriff Kevin McMahill and Clark County Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick were on hand to watch the machinery do its work. The event was deliberate, visual, and impossible to misread as anything other than a message to the street takeover crowd.
The Infiniti’s driver had participated in a street takeover where he drifted dangerously close to bystanders and nearly struck multiple vehicles. The driver of the Nissan engaged in repeated trick driving exhibitions, fled from law enforcement at high speed, and then went so far as to alter the vehicle’s appearance in an attempt to avoid being identified and caught. The cosmetic disguise did not work…