Multiple street takeovers reported across Orange County
ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. - Screeching tires, donuts, hundreds of spectators.
It was the wrong kind of middle-of-the-night wake-up call for people living near the intersection of Haster Street and Orangewood Avenue in Anaheim.
A street-racing sideshow. It was of several events that happened overnight and those who heard the noise weren't happy.
A year ago, the City of Anaheim implemented a new municipal code making it a misdemeanor to participate in a street race or even be a spectator at one.
Had police gotten there in time, all of those people watching the drivers spinning the cars this way and that could have been hit with misdemeanors, but that didn't happen. Police got there within seven minutes but those who took over the intersection took off fast.
Neighbors told us they were scared. Others said what the drivers were doing was risky.
In a video shot at the scene, one neighbor appeared angry and frustrated. In his hand something that looked like a curved machete. Police say they didn't see him, and they'll have to investigate to determine if there was any wrongdoing.
His neighbors, on the other hand, say they wouldn't have confronted the mob.
Damian Kivett, the executive director of Safe Streets For Everyone (SAFE) says, "It's not just people having fun. It's their activities that sometimes kill people."
Though unrelated, Kivett lost a leg when a car hit him and dragged him a quarter mile through Griffith Park in 2013.
Ever since the incident, he's been pushing back on street racers and dangerous sideshow drivers. In fact, it has become a mission with him.
But, pushing back out of frustration?
"It's not something I would ever do. Sometimes there gets to be a mob mentality at these street takeovers and these are not always people having a fun time. Sometimes they're involved in drugs and other illegal activities so a single individual going out as a vigilante is taking their own life in their own hands," Kivett said.
Police in Anaheim agree with that.