Woman seen being thrown from car, run over in video of latest street takeover
CHICAGO (CBS) -- For years, we have reported on car meetups and takeovers around Chicago – some leading to serious injuries and even deaths.
New video this weekend shows another example of the danger associated with such stunts. As CBS 2's Charlie De Mar reported Monday, the events keep causing problems despite efforts to crack down.
The meetups are organized in minutes and attract hundreds of people. One of the latest car takeovers happened at Cermak Road and Canalport Avenue in Pilsen over the weekend – and the video shows how quickly things can go wrong.
In the video, a car stunt begins with someone hanging out of the passenger window. We stopped the video for television before it showed her violently thrown to the pavement and run over by the car.
"I think it's absolutely despicable what they are doing out there," said Dan Franklin, a car enthusiast and founder of the Metal Militia car club.
Metal Militia focuses on meeting up and hanging out with other car enthusiasts – not performing illegal stunts in the middle of the street. He was not at the takeover on Saturday.
"I don't like takeovers. I think they are a waste of time," Franklin said. "They beat up your car, put people in danger, and they vandalize property."
Last year, the Chicago City Council passed an ordinance allowing police to impound cars involved in illegal street racing and car stunts known as drifting.
But the takeovers haven't slowed down.
"As we predicted - and we've been concerned that has not a stopped these incidents, right?" said Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th).
"These are just temporary fixes to a much larger problem," Sigcho-Lopez said.
Franklin added that the city ordinance against street racing and drifting has "hasn't worked since day one."
"They Run. They all have cars faster than the cops," he said. "I know they say, 'Oh, yeah, we'll track your license plates.' No one puts their plates on when they're doing this stuff."
Illinois state Rep. LaShawn Ford (D-Chicago) introduced legislation that would charge not only those participating, but also people who attend car takeovers, with felony mob action.
"I mean, you get a felony with this and possibly lose your driver's license - that's the deterrent that they need," Ford said.
We spoke to someone who was at the takeover over the weekend and asked not to be identified, but says the woman who was run over in the video was injured – but she survived.
Chicago Police say they were called to the intersection Saturday, but no report was written – so they don't have details or documentation of the incident.