Street takeover in Chicago caught on camera
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Another street takeover in Chicago has been caught on camera. Several people blocked the intersection of 35th and Ashland in the Bridgeport neighborhood early Sunday morning.
CBS 2's Shardaa Gray spoke with a concerned neighbor who is hoping to see a change in her community.
Sunday afternoon tire marks remained at the intersections where neighbors say the incident happened. It's an issue the city has dealt with for quite some time.
The sounds of engines revving and tires screeching woke up Leticia, who did not want to share her last name, early Sunday morning.
"It was dangerous," she said. "I was afraid for the drivers themselves who were showing off their skills, but they had kids hanging out. They had three kids hanging out of a car spinning and smoke everywhere."
Video posted to social media shows the moments several people gathered in Bridgeport.
"There was so many people," Leticia said. "I want to say there was over 100 people. And it was just very scary on how, I don't see how the city had control of this."
Leticia lives near the intersection of 35th and Ashland.
"All four (streets) here were blocked off by cars, young adults, grown adults," she said. "There was a lot of people as audience."
Police say responding officers were clearing a crowd that was gathering in the 3500 block of South Ashland Avenue when a person threw an object onto a marked squad car, causing damage to the front windshield.
"The police came, but they really couldn't even get into any of the (streets) because it was as if all this was planned and every intersection was blocked off ," Leticia said. "So unless you were part of this show that also had fireworks, you couldn't get in."
These meetups are nothing new to the city. CBS 2 has covered numerous illegal street racing incidents over the years, some even fatal.
A new ordinance put into place last July was designed to crack down on these takeovers and give the Chicago Police Department the green light to issue thousands of dollars in fines and impound any vehicles involved.
Leticia says she'd like to see more interactions with police.
"I'd like to see the police department planning with the communities. I'd like them to really listen," she said.
Ald. Nicole Lee (11th) released the following statement about the incident:
I am aware of what happened overnight at 35th and Ashland in the early hours this morning and have been in contact with the 9th District about the incident. I'm grateful to the officers who responded and were ultimately able to move those gathered along despite the fact that a police vehicle was damaged in the process. This is a citywide issue that we must find real solutions for and I am committed to having meaningful conversations with my colleagues and other government entities about how we can keep people from participating in these unsafe and disruptive actions.
Police say no one is in custody and area one detectives are investigating.
It is unclear if any of the ordinances to crack down on illegal street meetups were enforced Sunday morning.
