Smell of Burning Rubber Alerts Officer to Truck ‘Burnouts’

Just like Toucan Sam, sometimes an officer just has to follow their nose. This time it wasn't one of their K-9 units, but a patrolman who noticed it.

Saturday evening, around 5:30PM, an officer on patrol heading east on West 7th.Ave noticed a strong pungent burning rubbe odor.

Just a few seconds later, he observed a red pickup truck doing a burnout in the middle of 7th. Ave. near South Buntin Street.

Of course, the driver was pulled over via a traffic stop, and the driver, identified as  32-year-old Roberto Garcia, showed signs of impairment. He was arrested on suspicion of DUI, his truck was towed, and he leaves behind some strips of rubber behind in the road.

From the pictures taken by KPD, it appears he laid down at least one pretty good strip. No word if any area neighbors also reported his actions.

Surprisingly, he might not have melted down his tires that badly. According to automotive experts, you could conceivably do as many as 100 burnouts lasting only 5 to 10 seconds before wiping out the rubber.

However, if you lay one down for a long time, say, up to one minute, you will pretty much shred them and make them useless. Also, depending upon how long his truck stays in impound, the cost in WA state for a typical DUI tow such as this can wind up being as high as $900.00.  Yikes!

 Here's a look at some of the worst NON moving parking fails in our area, so far.