Street takeover on busy intersection fueling concerns in Beverly Grove
Only deep skid marks are left behind from that daring street takeover that clogged the busy Beverly Grove intersection early Saturday morning.
"It was kind of scary," said resident Bejamim Hugeggi. "Thought we were going to have another night of rage."
Hugeggi was on his way home after a night out and almost got caught up in the chaos as tires created huge plumes of smoke and cars got dangerously close to onlookers.
"It just didn't look normal at 1 a.m. at night," he said. "I wasn't happy that they were racing and doing donuts but I was at least happy they are not destroying our community."
Some witnesses said it took the Los Angeles Police Department 20 minutes to respond. According to police, officers could not provide an exact timeframe but told us they had to come up with a tactical plan to disperse the crowd safely because so many people were there.
However, when officers arrived the street takeover was over with the crowd already dissipating.
"They never got to the point where they did drag racing which is often the case and perhaps the most dangerous art of it," said Councilman Paul Koretz.
The councilman said this is the first takeover to happen in his district in recent memory. He's been working closely with LAPD to stop them.
"This is serious and we need the most serious response," said Koretz. "I think we'd be talking about whether we can be a little tougher whether than just issuing traffic citations."
That's something some who live here say they'd like to see to put an end to it.
"What if an ambulance couldn't get through," said one resident. "In a way, it's like their protest to society and this is what we are going to do to cause havoc in a way."
LAPD said officers did not issue any citations and no one was hurt. Koretz hopes to clean the skid marks in the area as soon as possible.
