"It's just not right": Wildwood residents demand action after unsanctioned car event left 2 dead, others injured
WILDWOOD, N.J. (CBS) -- Wildwood residents are angry about chaos on the streets that killed two people and injured several others. Illegal sideshows took over Saturday night and residents are now demanding action.
An illegal auto event in Wildwood killed two people and left several others injured. The series of car crashes on Saturday night are leaving Wildwood residents and visitors heartbroken over the lives lost.
"You come here for fun, and you end up dying and now they're planning a funeral," Janice Jeffery, a Wildwood resident, said. "It's just not right."
"The accidents, the drinking, it was catastrophic on Atlantic Avenue in Wildwood last night," Phillip Helmbold, a lifetime Wildwood resident, said.
Police say an unsanctioned car event led to the death of an 18-year-old Lindsay Weakland and a 34-year-old Timothy Ogden along with several others injured.
Witness video captured one of the chaotic scenes at Burk and Atlantic Avenues.
"It looked like a car just racing down the road 90 miles an hour," a Wildwood resident said. "It was a clear street. A car went through to cross over and they collided and everything went up in the air."
Officials say they arrested 37-year-old Gerald J. White after he fled the scene. Officials say White was charged with two counts of death by auto, two counts of assault by auto, one count of eluding, one count of leaving the scene of an accident and one count of violation of laws to protect public safety.
"The cops were trying their hardest to control it, but the groups were too big and they outnumbered the cops," a woman said.
The board of commissioners released a statement saying they have been monitoring the unsanctioned H2Oi event all weekend.
They say the city's mayor spoke with Gov. Phil Murphy to call in additional support to help the officers.
"I think that the mayor owes us residents at least the consideration to come out here an explain to us what happened in our community," Helmbold said.
In between the damage from the deadly crash, resident Janice Jeffery took it upon herself to start a small memorial in honor of those lost.
"It's just not right," Jeffrey said. "She didn't deserve to die because someone was somebody careless. She was just walking and gets killed."
