One Vehicle Seized, Seven Citations Issued Following Street Takeovers In Charlotte
The Latest:
CMPD says they conducted two traffic stops, seized one vehicle, and issued seven citations for violations related to multiple street takeovers that happened over the weekend.
The citations issued were for reckless driving, participating in a street takeover, spectating a street takeover, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, no operator’s license, and resisting an officer.
The CMPD will continue to target street takeover and street racing groups and conduct enforcement operations until the behavior stops. Penalties for participants can include a Class 1 Misdemeanor for a first-time offense with a fine of at least $1,000. Subsequent offenses can result in a Class H Felony including a minimum fine of twice the value of the vehicle involved in the offense.
Any motor vehicle that is involved in a street takeover is subject to being seized and held pending a court-ordered release. Both organizers and spectators of these events are subject to citation and/or arrest as well. If citizens see these groups driving recklessly and behaving erratically, they’re asked not to engage but call 911.
The CMPD is requesting the public’s help in reporting public safety issues. Anyone with information about the incident this weekend and/or is in possession of videos or photos is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600. All tips remain anonymous.
Original Story (Posted: May 27, 2024):
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It’s happening again, street takeovers are putting lives at risk in Charlotte. Two incidents took place over the weekend, one in Uptown, and one in NoDa.
Videos of these two street takeovers are circulating social media and both show cars coming dangerously close to hitting onlookers.
The pair of Charlotte Intersections are now scarred with black skid marks. In Uptown, at least two cars could be seen on video doing donuts in front of the NASCAR Hall of Fame early Sunday morning at an intersection on East Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
In that video a person can also be seen shooting fireworks into the air from the middle of the intersection.
“Kind of reckless,” NoDa resident Austin Brower said when asked about the dangerous stunts. “One person just got hit by a car doing a burnout.”
Brower referred to a separate street takeover that took place just steps away from his apartment this past Saturday around 2 A.M. at the intersection 36th Street and North Davidson.
A video shared with WCCB shows a black car performing a burnout. That same car can then be seen sliding and then hitting a bystander on a crosswalk. MEDIC confirmed that a victim was rushed to a hospital with serious injuries.
Brower said he was there at the intersection just as police shut down the takeover.
“I just see like 20 cops and, you know, the skid marks and everything, so I can tell what went down,” Brower said.
CMPD has been cracking down on street takeovers within the last year. Several driver have been arrested for participating and cars have been seized.
Thanks to a law passed December of last year, drivers involved in street takeovers can face a misdemeanor and minimum $1,000 fine for the first offense. A second offense escalates to a felony.
People in the area say they have no problem with doing donuts for fun, they just want it done at a safe location where the risk of hitting someone or something is much lower.
WCCB reached out to CMPD to ask if any cars were impounded or arrests were made following the two burnout sessions from this past weekend. No answer has been given yet.
