Man accused of street racing with his 6-, 10-year-old children in the backseat

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — A Marietta man faces charges he went street racing with his children in the backseat of his car.

Roswell Police told Channel 2′s Mike Petchenik they broke up a group of street racers laying drag in a parking lot off Northmeadow Parkway Nov. 1, but they all scattered before officers could identify them.

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Police told Petchenik they had beefed up patrols in the area after numerous complaints about street racing.

“We’re now to a point where we can beat them to a parking lot,” said Roswell Police spokesman Sean Thompson. “We already have officers blocking the parking lot off.”

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A short time later, Alpharetta Police spotted the same group and alerted Roswell police to social media videos showing the group drifting, or laying donuts.

Police say one of the drivers, Jose Rodriquez Sandoval, had his 6 and 10-year-old kids in the back seat without any kind of child restraints.

“He could have been hurt or seriously injured the children,” Thompson said. “For a parent to do that, it’s not a safe thing to do.”

Police charged Rodriquez Sandoval with reckless driving, reckless conduct and for driving without a license.

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But Rodriquez Sandoval denies doing anything wrong.

“There was not anybody in danger,” he said. “This is what someone does; it is not with the intention of breaking the Georgia laws. This is a hobby that someone does ... It was careful. It doesn’t hurt anyone or ourselves.”

Rodriquez Sandoval denied that his younger son was with him but said his 10-year-old daughter was because she wanted to be there.

“I went, and when someone told me it was my time to burn tires, I passed and burned tires, but with a lot of precautions and I always I did it like that,” he said.

Roswell police look into complaints of illegal street racing