Bloody hoons

By Lia Bichel
A SPRINGVALE police officer required emergency surgery after taking on a mob of about 40 illegal street racers on the weekend.
Police said that about 40 cars were parked at a hoon hotspot near the Dandenong bypass about 1am on 27 February.
A resident had called police worried that several of the drivers were intending to street race.
A 31-year-old Traffic Management Unit (TMU) senior constable and his partner arrive at the scene to try to break-up the crowd.
The senior constable was on foot when he directed one of the cars to pull over, Springvale TMU Sergeant Scott Roberts said.
When the car did not slow down, the senior constable tried to get the driver’s attention by hitting the back panel with his hand, but he misjudged and his arm went through the rear quarter window.
He received deep lacerations to his right arm and was taken to Dandenong Hospital for emergency surgery. He is expected to make a full recovery.
Back-up police officers arrived after the incident occurred, but were unable to locate the responsible driver.
Police want to speak to witnesses and are searching for the driver of a light coloured Holden Statesman sedan, a VR or VS model, which was lowered and had mag wheels.
Sgt Roberts said the car would have a broken quarter window on the rear passenger side.
“This was a very serious offence,” he said.
The incident occurred the same night as a major police operation in Dandenong aimed to rid the streets of drink drivers, speedsters and other hoons.
Sgt Roberts said a major police blitz would be rolled out this month in collaboration with the Friday night anti-hoon operation.
Booze buses, speed cameras, and police from the City of Greater Dandenong and neighbouring areas will saturate the streets.
“Our police resources will be more than doubled (during the blitz),” he said.
Sgt Roberts said many people congregated on the Princes Highway and other locations closer to Melbourne to show off their cars, but said some drivers fed off energy from the crowd and became involved in hoon behaviour.
“We don’t have a problem with them (showing off their cars), but once crowds start to grow some people see it as a stage and want to show off,” he said.“We won’t tolerate it. If they come to Dandenong to become involved in anti-social behaviour – they aren’t welcome here and we will deal with them accordingly.”
Police conducted 200 breath tests last weekend as part of the operation and detected 23 offences, including three unlicensed drivers, one drunk driver, and three drivers including a motorcyclist driving unroadworthy vehicles.