DMV Revokes Licenses in Roadway Violence : Eight Suspects in Shootings Already Affected; Lawmakers Will Move for Tougher Penalties

SACRAMENTO — In response to the growing attention given freeway shootings, the Department of Motor Vehicles has started revoking the driver’s licenses of people arrested under suspicion of highway violence.

Meanwhile, several Southern California legislators said Monday that they will introduce bills to stiffen the penalties for violent acts on the state’s roadways.

Motor Vehicles Director Del Pierce said his department began the policy Aug. 4 and already has revoked the licenses of eight Southern Californians suspected in some of the shootings, which have claimed four lives and led to at least 15 injuries since mid-June.

Police have arrested more than two dozen suspects in violent traffic incidents since highway shootings captured nationwide attention earlier this summer. Authorities have reported 44 incidents of highway violence across the state, most of them in Southern California.

Under the new DMV policy, Pierce said, both drivers and passengers could lose their licenses as soon as four days after arrest. Officials said they are acting under a section of the Vehicle Code that authorizes license revocations when “it is required for the safety of the driver or other persons upon the highways.”

The new policy appears to involve a very broad interpretation of that portion of the code. The law allows the DMV to revoke licenses for several reasons, but the revocations normally take effect 30 days after written notice is given. Revocation without the delay is permitted only if DMV officials believe that “the mental or physical condition of the person” in question makes immediate action necessary.

Although suspects can request a hearing to regain their licenses, Pierce said, “Actions will not be stayed pending the hearing.” Those whose licenses are revoked can petition to regain them after a year, he said, when “the driver must present evidence to DMV of intent to act responsibly while driving on California’s highways.” DMV spokesman Bill Gengler said Monday that the department restored the license of one of the eight suspects after authorities could not gather evidence to link him to the highway violence.

With the Legislature due to reconvene next week, several assemblymen said they will introduce legislation to stiffen the penalties for crimes involving highway violence.

The harshest measure was announced by Assemblyman Paul E. Zeltner (R-Lakewood), who said he will introduce legislation that “will cost a freeway shooter his driver’s license, his car and a minimum of three years of his freedom.”

Zeltner’s spokeswoman, Carrie Harper, said Zeltner intended to tack the language onto an existing bill dealing with crimes in the schools.

“We’re going to gut that and put in this language,” she said: “If you own the car” and commit or permit a passenger to commit an act of violence, “the car is no longer yours.” Zeltner said his bill would also require the lifetime forfeiture of a driver’s license.

A bill proposed by Assemblyman Dave Elder (D-Long Beach) would also confiscate the vehicles of those convicted of highway violence and would strip offenders of their driver’s licenses for 10 years.

Elder said he will also seek to establish toll-free telephone lines to police, allowing witnesses to report acts of highway violence and to seek rewards of up to $5,000 for information leading to the conviction of highway shooters.

Assemblyman Gerald N. Felando (R-San Pedro) said he will introduce legislation making possession of a loaded weapon in a vehicle a felony punishable by up to seven years in prison or a $10,000 fine.

At present, Felando said, the offense is a misdemeanor, which carries a maximum possible sentence of a year in county jail.

Meanwhile, the violent highway incidents continued. In New York City on Monday, police arrested a 32-year-old Pennsylvania man who allegedly opened fire on the Triborough Bridge after a minor traffic accident.

The heavily armed man, who claimed to be a Vietnam War veteran, told police he was “going to California to catch the freeway killer.” Robert Edward John of Dingmans Ferry, Pa., was arrested on charges of reckless endangerment, menacing and weapons possession after allegedly firing nine shots from a .44-caliber rifle.

In California, several more incidents occurred over the weekend. On Sunday, a truck driver from Alabama sustained minor injuries after two gunshots from a passing pickup shattered the driver-side window of his cab on California 58, three miles west of Tehachapi.

Early Sunday morning, a motorcyclist was stabbed in Newport Beach in a dispute with another driver. And on Saturday, sheriff’s deputies arrested a 25-year-old Seaside man after he allegedly shot out the rear window of a car after a traffic accident on the Big Sur coast. No injuries were reported.