Street racing is a common occurrence in Florida now, it seems, and arrests are being made all the time for it. That still doesn’t deter people from engaging in it.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office says Officer Ernesto Valerio was patrolling the Buckman Bridge in Jacksonville, Florida, Friday night when he came across two cars driving side by side and holding up traffic. Valerio, who works with JSO’s Specialized Traffic Enforcement Unit, was driving an unmarked SUV.
The drivers apparently didn’t recognize the SUV as a police vehicle. According to JSO, they took off racing and reached approximately 120 miles per hour before Valerio pulled one of them over.
One of the drivers, identified by JSO as 22-year-old Quashay Frazier Jr., was arrested on a felony charge and multiple misdemeanors. The arrest was one of eight JSO said it made Friday and Saturday as part of its Operation Double Down enforcement effort.
The Buckman Bridge Isn’t the Best Place To Race
The Buckman Bridge carries Interstate 295 over the St. Johns River and connects Jacksonville’s Mandarin area with the city’s west side. It is also a major commuter route, which makes two cars traveling side by side at highway speeds an effective way to turn everyone else into unwilling spectators.
JSO did not say how long the alleged race lasted or what speeds the two vehicles reached before reaching 120 mph. The sheriff’s office did say the drivers were initially traveling side by side and holding up traffic before accelerating.
Florida Has a Law for Drivers Who Street Race
Florida’s dangerous excessive speeding law took effect in 2025. It makes driving 100 mph or faster in a way that threatens people or property a criminal offense, as well as driving at least 50 mph over the posted speed limit.
The law is commonly referred to as the state’s “Super Speeder” law. A first conviction can carry up to 30 days in jail and a $500 fine, while following convictions can bring up to 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
That puts the alleged 120-mph street-racing stunt on the Buckman Bridge well beyond the kind of speeding that normally results in a traffic citation and a driver continuing on their way.
Officer Valerio Isn’t New to This
News4JAX rode along with Valerio during a May 2026 DUI patrol and reported that he was a 22-year veteran of JSO who had made roughly 1,400 DUI arrests. During that ride-along, he also stopped a driver who was traveling 93 mph near Beach Boulevard in Jacksonville.
So while an unmarked SUV may have looked like an ordinary vehicle to the drivers on the Buckman Bridge, the person behind the wheel had considerably more experience with reckless driving than the racers probably wanted.
JSO Says Eight Drivers Were Arrested During Their Operation
The alleged Buckman Bridge race was one part of JSO’s weekend enforcement effort targeting street racing and excessive speeding. The sheriff’s office said officers made eight arrests Friday and Saturday during Operation Double Down and that additional details about the operation would be released later.
JSO also said more than 100 people have died on Jacksonville-area roads this year, with speed and impairment among the leading contributing factors.
For the two drivers on the Buckman Bridge, the important question apparently wasn’t whether they could find an empty stretch of road to race on. It was whether they could find one without a sheriff’s SUV behind them.