Dashcam shows street takeover crowd swarms police car with officer inside
By: New video released shows an angry crowd jumping on a Cleveland police car.
It happened with drivers doing “donuts” around another patrol car.
Wild chaos like that has now led to the first steps toward tougher city laws against street takeovers.
Cleveland police video allows you to see what an officer saw inches away through his windshield.
He tried to stop a street takeover near Lee and Miles, but people with cameras recording the takeover stood in the way of the officer’s car.
“Move!” he said.
Yet, no one got out of the way. Instead, people with cameras kept recording with their phones, and then they started to take over the police car.
You see several people jumping onto the car and even pounding the hood.
“Hey, I got people jumping on my car. Get me cars up here now,” the officer said over police radio.
The new police video reveals people involved in the takeover and watching had no fear of authority.
On the last weekend of September, crowds with loud cars and guns tied up busy city intersections and also the Innerbelt Bridge.
We reported earlier that one officer tried to stop the stunts, but he ended up calling for help. Now you see why.
At another scene, five men beat an off-duty officer.
At many scenes, dozens of drivers called 911 begging for help from police. Some complained they didn’t see any officers responding.
In fact, as the I-Team previously showed you, on West 25th, officers stayed down the street from a takeover with their lights flashing while a group tied up West 25th and Lorain for about a half-hour.
At the same time, the new video shows when takeover crowds did see police, they were not intimidated.
The officer whose car was swarmed by the crowd also remarked about the drivers doing stunts, saying, “they’re about to knock people over standing in the middle of the street.”
All of this has led Cleveland City Council to propose tougher penalties.
A new city ordinance would basically match a new state law against street takeovers. Both sets of regulations call for penalties up to six months in jail with fines up to $1,000.
The stunt drivers could be charged, and so could the people helping them.
“Council will take whatever action we can do, but it’s up to the administration to enforce the law, at the end of the day,” said city council public safety chairman Michael Polensek.
Council members even want the city to be able to seize wheels and mufflers from cars involved.
While the takeovers are bold, so many in the crowd are mysterious, wearing masks. Cleveland police have a task force investigating.
Back to the scene of the group jumping on a police car, the officer involved started following a couple of the main stunt drivers as they started to leave, but as you see on the video, they sped off.