Bristol

Bristol Police Warn of ‘Street Takeover' Trend Following Dangerous Driving Stunts

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Bristol Police say videos posted online reportedly captured cars blocking a busy intersection and drivers then pulling off some dangerous moves.

And now through surveillance videos, police said they’ve already ID’d some of the cars involved.

“No one wants to deal with that. This isn’t Grand Theft Auto. This is real life,” said a community member.

“I see it was Fast and the Furious going all the way around doing burnouts or whatever,” said Amy McDermott of Bristol.

Investigators said crowds watched as drivers did donuts right in the middle of the intersection of Farmington and Stafford avenues on Friday night.

Officers found this after reports hundreds of cars were blocking the spot.

“How ridiculous. Middle of Route 6,” said Fred Haines of Bristol.

Haines couldn’t believe the videos posted online of the acts he had seen signs of on the road.

“It was just black circles everywhere, everywhere. My wife and I stopped and said, ‘unbelievable,'" Haines said.

In a statement, police wrote in part:

“Recently around the country there is a new fad called “Street takeover” where illegal street racers block off intersections or portions of the roadway. These individuals then perform illegal stunts with their motor vehicles that not only endanger themselves, but also endanger the crowd of spectators who watch and video record.”

“I think kids are bored. They don’t know what to do with themselves, COVID and everything like that. I don’t know,” McDermott said.

“It’s not good. You got a lot of people that obviously need to obey the law and they could potentially get hurt,” said another community member.

Anyone who has information is asked to contact police.

To see videos of the incident, click here.

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