Baltimore police break up illegal car meet-up, arrest two for setting parking lot on fire in Canton
BALTIMORE- After complaints of a large and loud disturbance in Canton, Baltimore police found at least 100 people gathered for an illegal car meet-up and said some set fire to a parking lot at Canton Crossing over the weekend.
The pavement there is covered in marks from the incident.
People reported hearing the loud cars as far away as Patterson Park before police broke up the event early Sunday morning
"Quite a few vehicles are doing donuts here. …Everybody's starting to run to their vehicles now," an officer said in dispatch recordings WJZ reviewed. "I got an officer surrounded. They're jumping on his vehicle."
Baltimore City police say they arrested a 19-year-old from Mechanicsville and a 20-year-old from Silver Spring and charged them with traffic violations and arson.
The darkened area is still visible where gasoline was poured on the pavement in a circle and it was set on fire before the suspects disposed of the gas can and tried to flee.
The police helicopter was in the air and instrumental in making those arrrests.
"I do have suspect pouring gas on video in the middle of the parking lot," an officer said. "Yeah, 10-4. He's wearing a very distinct security guard outfit, which I'm going to say, he's not going to have that job much longer. I've got him right in front of me right now. He's running. He's running. He's got a vest on."
Terrie pulled into the lot Monday night onto shopping and saw the damage to the pavement and wondered what happened. "I thought it was a truck that leaked fuel. …Kids get together and they blow off steam but that fire is concerning," she said. "Even if you don't hurt anybody, somebody is paying for it. Somebody has to live around there. You just don't know what can happen."
WJZ has reported on car meet ups and street racing this year with participants blocking roadways and creating disturbances in Baltimore City and Baltimore County.
The city increased the penalties to a maximum of one year behind bars and a $1,000 fine.
Still, the issue has been tough to stop with participants moving quickly from place to place.
Earlier this year, we spoke to councilman Yitzy Schleifer who pushed for the tougher penalties.
"They were blocking intersections leading up to the hospital in my district, so I've seen ambulances get stuck behind these car clubs because they shut down the intersection, and then you end up getting stuck, so it really is a hazard for our ambulances and other emergency personnel to not be able to move freely through the city," Schleifer said in August.
