Cleveland City Council Targets Illegal Street Takeovers With New Legislation

Last Saturday, from 11:30 p.m. to 4 in the morning, hundreds of young adults from Columbus and Cincinnati drove to Cleveland in souped-up vehicles to deliver what can only be described as a citywide taunt.

Dozens of cars in at least 15 intersections spun in circles around filming teenagers or lit fires. Masked kids banged on party buses on I-90, while others hung out of passenger doors. Some even flashed pistols; others shot airsoft guns at police.

Cleveland police held an emergency Sunday press conference. Chief of Police Dorothy Todd appeared before Council's Safety Committee to update them on a new task force to address the issue and to recount what measures, most unsuccessful, were undertaken the night of the takeovers.

On Monday, Council took its own steps. Three councilmembers—Michael Polensek, Blaine Griffin and Kerry McCormack—introduced legislation that would outright ban every plausible aspect of the street takeover, what’s been the nom du jour of what occurred last weekend.

Mirroring tougher laws that will go into effect statewide on October 24, the new amendments add and include punishments for just about anything a street takeover perpetrator could commit: burnouts, doughnuts, drifting, wheelies, stunt driving. All for, the amendment reads, “the immediate preservation of the public peace, property, health or safety.”

Most importantly the new rules could mean anyone involved, from the filmers to the drivers, could be found guilty of at least a misdemeanor of the first degree. Which means license suspension anywhere from 30 days to three years. The new law would also allow police to take takeover-related car parts as “contraband”—wheels, tires, mufflers.

“No person shall participate in street racing, stunt driving, or street takeover upon any public road, street or highway,” the introduced legislation says, “or on private property that is open to the general public.”

Street takeovers, a dangerous merging of social media attention grabbing and aggro car culture, have gotten national media attention this year after a wave of interceptions in several American cities were shut down. Cop cars were lit aflame in Philadelphia; a girl was killed after a street takeover in Los Angeles.

Cleveland Police reported three warrants for arrests after the mass takeovers on September 28. Later last week, they followed up by releasing a dozen photos of teens mid-takeover, and asked for the public’s help in identifying them. (Many wear ski masks or animal masks under the belief, and cry of, “No face, no case.”)

One arrest, made by the Ohio State Highway Patrol, hasn’t yet been confirmed as a street takeover suspect. No other suspects have been taken into custody.

Last week, Councilman Michael Polensek, the head of Council’s Safety Committee, asked Todd to explain what went wrong during and after Saturday’s takeover. Todd responded with a series of mea culpas and pleas for empathy.

“Every action or inaction taken by police will always be judged, not only by their superiors, by the media, by the community,” she said. “And we have to answer to the Department of Justice [Consent Decree] monitors, to the Cleveland Police Commission—and even city councils.”

Todd and Safety Director Wayne Drummond told Council that it was looking into deploying a half dozen drones, along with possibly implementing spike strips and installing metal plates at intersections, to make drifting impossible.

Regardless, Council wasn’t moved.

“This behavior is unacceptable and has put our citizens, visitors and businesses at risk,” Griffin said in a statement Tuesday. “The morale of the city has been shaken. We want action and that’s why we’re taking this important step. We have to hold people accountable.” [content-1]

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