A pickup truck plowed into a crowd during an unruly ‘street takeover’ event in South Los Angeles, prompting a swarm of onlookers to run towards the crash and film it.
The wreck happened at the intersection of Normandie Avenue and West Gage Avenue on Friday evening and was filmed live on the streaming platform Kick.
Footage shows a silver pickup doing donuts around a steel barrel with a fire burning in it. The driver appears to lose control of the vehicle and drives into a crowd that has gathered nearby.
Other onlookers erupt and rush towards the scene of the accident with their mobile phones raised. A group of young men climb onto the truck before members of the crowd shout that the driver appears to be backing up.
Street takeovers, also known as sideshows, are informal demonstrations of car stunts often held at public intersections. The meetings are subject to bouts of gun violence and fatal accidents, where most injuries are not reported to the police.
A pickup truck plowed into a crowd during a street takeover in South Los Angeles
The driver appeared to lose control of the vehicle and ran into a group of onlookers gathered at the intersection of West Gage Avenue and Normandie Avenue
Other onlookers exclaimed and rushed to the scene of the accident, raising their cellphones to capture the chaos
It is unclear if anyone was injured in the incident on Friday.
The latest takeover comes on the heels of a similar event last weekend that involved an estimated 50 cars. The crowd began to disperse when the officers arrived around 10 p.m. 03.30 Saturday.
That morning, a Jeep was doused with gasoline and set on fire at the intersection of Crenshaw Boulevard and West 63rd Street when another vehicle did donuts around it. No injuries were reported and no arrests were made, officials said.
Street takeover events have a deadly track record. In August 2023, two people were killed after gunfire erupted during a rally in the Florence-Graham neighborhood. One victim died at the scene, while the other died at the hospital.
In perhaps one of the most infamous cases, a nursing student died after she was pinned between a light pole and an out-of-control Chevy Camaro in December 2022.
Three cars were speeding and doing donuts at the intersection of Florence Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard when one of the drivers lost control and drove into a crowd on the sidewalk. Elyzza Guajaca, 24, was taken to hospital and later died from her injuries.
Surveillance video showed the driver climbing out of the car and fleeing on foot after getting into a fight with witnesses. That man, 28-year-old Dante Chapple Young, was arrested in New Mexico and charged in connection with Guajaca’s death.
Early last month, the Los Angeles City Council voted 12-to-1 to launch a pilot program at 20 intersections to combat street takeovers. Raised center lines will be installed to discourage drivers from pulling stunts, officials said.
The intersection at Normandie and Gage is among those targeted in the initiative.
The Los Angeles Police Department is also requesting that cameras be installed on street corners. The program is still evolving, and officials aim to identify another 30 intersections in the coming months.
Last Saturday morning, a jeep was doused with gasoline and set on fire at another intersection. The vehicle caught fire in the middle of the street as another car did donuts around it
Nursing student Elyzza Guajaca, 24, was killed in 2022 after an out-of-control car drove into a crowd and pinned her between a lamppost and her vehicle
Speaking to KTLA last year, LAPD Detective Ryan Moreno condemned the illegal meetings in the wake of Guajaca’s death.
‘People are run over, hit, people are attacked, assaulted. We’re like, “Where’s the police report?” and they never come forward,” Moreno said.
“It’s a bit sick in a way. This culture is, that’s kind of what they do.
‘It’s kind of like a code I suppose they go after where someone would be beaten almost to death and they don’t come forward to be a victim.’
In a press release last month, the LAPD’s Street Racing Task Force announced the arrest of a man believed to be one of the biggest street takeover organizers in the southern part of the state.
The agency executed a search warrant in the city of Paramount and arrested Erick Romero Quintana, 20, on the morning of February 7th.
“With over 70,000 social media followers, this organizer has coordinated events throughout Southern California that have not only resulted in large-scale takeovers, but also smash-and-grab robberies, vehicle thefts, and other violent crimes, including murder,” the release reads. .