Car goes up in flames during South LA street takeover, one of multiple overnight

Street takeovers causing chaos across LA County

Multiple cars were set on fire and a local car dealership was broken into after street takeovers across Los Angeles. Officials say takeovers are becoming a county-wide problem.

LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles police are investigating at least two street takeovers that occurred early Tuesday morning across the South LA area.

One took place near Florence and Normandie avenues, while the other was at the intersection of South Figueroa Street and Jefferson Boulevard.

Video shows dozens of young people at both intersections around 3 a.m. Tuesday with cars doing burnouts. At both intersections, cars were set on fire.

At the Figueroa/Jefferson location, vandals busted windows and broke into a nearby Felix Chevrolet.

Police respond to series of street takeovers

Police responded to multiple street takeovers overnight.

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So far no arrests have been made from any of the takeovers.

"There’s no accountability for any of these actions taken," said Jason Cichon from Felix Chevrolet.

Crews at Felix Tuesday were cleaning up damage caused by the vandals. They believe the damage to the store windows and to a car inside will be greater than $10,000.

Workers at Felix also shared video from other street takeovers from the same intersection in previous months.

"It’s kind of a mob mentality of sorts when people get in these large groups and the damage becomes worse," said Cichon.

According to LAPD Commander Craig Valenzuela, the city’s Street Racing Task Force designed to prevent street takeovers is working. However, sometimes the takeovers still manage to take place.

"It’s a growing epidemic here, not just in Los Angeles, it’s a county-wide problem," said Valenzuela.

Valenzuela said we typically only hear about the street takeovers that cause issues, not the ones authorities prevent from taking place.

"Dozens of times every week [we stop street takeovers]," said Valenzuela. "We get these on Tuesday nights and Wednesday nights. The problem would be considerably worse if we didn’t have the current resources, the hard-working men and women of the street racing task force."

LA County Supervisor Holly Mitchell said she's led a community symposium to help attack the issue of street takeovers, and that the County is expected to present a plan later this month.

"The devastation on communities and the lives of residents caused by illegal street takeovers and racing is why my office is adamantly against them and has taken steps to help put a stop to these dangerous activities," said Mitchell. "Our work is not done. We must continue to collaborate with all agencies across city lines."

A full report on recommendations from the community and experts is online at https://lacounty.gov/residents/public-safety/street-takeovers/.