By Steven Symes 
A street takeover on a Long Island frontage or service road turned violent, with two responding police officers hurt and multiple cars wrecked. It’s just the latest installment in an ongoing legacy of chaos for people with the misfortune of living where authorities have failed to effectively stifle these dangerous, illegal gatherings.
Why do cities tolerate street takeovers?
The event, which took place in Islip, apparently had hundreds of spectators in attendance, one area resident told ABC7. He claims to have been in a crowd of pedestrians who were almost hit by one of the drivers spinning around in the closed-down section of road.
When police responded, the takeover drivers took off and that’s when things turned dangerous. Some crashed, abandoning their cars. That led to messes with spilled fuel, fires, etc. which firefighters tried responding to, but apparently they couldn’t get around for a while thanks to the traffic snarl created by the event.
It’s almost like these street takeovers put everyone at risk.
While it hasn’t been officially revealed, one witness explained how one of the two police officers responding to the takeover was injured. One apparently was surrounded by the takeover mob, then fell as if someone hit him in the head.
We’ve seen police get attacked by the street takeover drivers and spectators before. They also attack firefighters and even innocent civilians who happen to interrupt their illegal event.
This takeover seems to have caught officials by surprise, even though supposedly the area has dealt with them in the past. We don’t know if it was the size of this one or how thoroughly it shut down a vital road, but first responders seemed to have their hands full and then some.
And so the street takeover problem continues to frustrate people living in areas like Long Island.
Image via Eyewitness News ABC7NY/YouTube
Follow The Auto Wire on Google News.