They say capital punishment is on hold in California. Lethal injection is being called cruel and unusual punishment. I guess the court overlooked the one loophole in the law that allowed a 1995 Honda Civic hatchback to be executed in Long Beach last month.

California authorities destroyed a 1995 Honda Civic that belonged to 18-year-old Clifford Sung, a few weeks after he was arrested in Long Beach for having a vehicle with an illegal engine. This is the first time in Long Beach’s history that an illegally modified car has been crushed.

Sung was stopped last month after Long Beach officers noticed his Honda’s illegally modified exhaust system. Officer Brian Nystedt stated that the police saw other signs of illegal street racing, including a fibreglass hood and a sway bar on the back of the car that led to an inspection under the hood revealing that the VIN had been chipped off the transmission.

City Prosecutor, Tom Reeves, justified the destruction of the car by saying that a high number of deaths in and around Long Beach in the past few years attributed to street racing have made the city aggressively pursue racers who break the law.

Ironically, Sung who had no prior criminal convictions, he managed to get away with a misdemeanor charge (he was sentenced to probation and the judge ordered his car to be destroyed), was arrested again one week after he settled his case in court. However, this time, things aren’t going to be as easy for Sung as he was charged for felony auto theft that occurred on earlier this month.

Hopefully, when sentenced, Sung will not suffer the same fate as his car.