Backfiring Acura Integra Brings Swat Team Looking For Guns

Anti-lag systems on highly modified cars can be loud, and by that we mean ear-popping, firecrackers-on-the-Fourth-of-July, front-lines-on-the-battlefield loud. In fact, that last example is pretty much exactly what led to this altercation between a very surprised Acura Integra owner, and a small army of police officers who descended upon his garage with guns drawn.

"I used launch control while putting my car away and the cops thought it was someone firing an ak47 and turned up with guns drawn, they were very good about the situation once they realized it was actually the car," said Enrique Mendoza, according to the video description posted by Street FX Motorsport TV.

Apparently, Mendoza decided to do an obligatory burnout in his tweaked Acura while pulling into his shop, with someone filming the action. It should be noted this was not done on the street, but rather what appears to be a garage in a small business park. Whatever the case, a couple minutes later the police showed up demanding to know "who's got the gun." Yeah, they apparently mistook the anti-lag for someone ripping off rounds with an assault rifle, which would be a big no-no in such a location. When Mendoza said there was no gun, police were perhaps a tad aggressive in expressing their disbelief. Fortunately the situation was resolved peacefully once the officers learned it really was the car and not someone shooting up the neighborhood.

Some of the officers involved were even laughing at the situation, but we can't help but notice the more, ah, confrontational officer on the left suddenly disappears when proven completely wrong. We're happy to see his colleague on the right enjoying the misunderstanding and shaking Mendoza's hand before departing. Going through the video comments there are plenty of people who say the police were way out of line in the way they approached this situation, and there certainly is some evidence to suggest that. On the flip side, if you're an officer who doesn't know cars and heard such a commotion just around the corners, you'd probably be on edge, too.

This situation could've escalated, but we give credit to the guys at the shop for keeping their cool, and for the officers (some, anyway) for laughing it off. We wish more of these stories could have such an ending.