Police hope proactive enforcement on gunfire cars will curb issue

Police continue to investigate tips coming in on the issue and will continue to conduct traffic enforcement regarding vehicles with these types of modifications (Courtesy photo)

ROCHESTER - Rochester Police say that in addition to a recent arrest for driving a vehicle with modified emissions that sound like gunfire, there are two other cases they are now pursuing.

The practice involves deleting or modifying emissions technology so that a vehicle's backfire sounds like a gun going off.

The nationwide trend has caused much panic, especially in crowded neighborhoods and urban areas.

Rochester Police Capt. Todd Pinkham said in addition to the recent arrest of Ethan Saint-Val, 22, of Rochester, two other cases of modified emissions have surfaced.

On Nov. 4 police arrested Saint-Val for disorderly conduct, a violation level offense, following a traffic stop on Wakefield Street due to modified emissions on his vehicle making sounds consistent with gunfire.
Saint-Val was issued a hand summons and given a court date of Dec, 16 in Rochester District Court.

Pinkham said on Monday that police have also issued a warning for another individual and have an active violation level warrant for yet another person.

According to the EPA, more than 500,000 diesel pickup trucks have had their emissions controls deleted since 2009.
The EPA also found that the excess emissions from these tampered trucks are equivalent to adding more than nine million additional compliant diesel trucks to the road.

Pinkham said police continue to investigate tips coming in on the issue and will continue to conduct traffic enforcement regarding vehicles with these types of modifications, however he believes getting the word out there that these offenses are being taken seriously by police has led to a reduction in incidents.

"We have received fewer calls from the public regarding this issue, so I feel that just getting the word out there is having a positive effect," he added.

Emission tampering is not limited to one type of vehicle; it occurs across commercial trucks, passenger vehicles, motorcycles, and agricultural and forestry equipment.