Police in Dallas say that they busted five people involved in a street takeover and found two stolen cars in the process. All five are under the age of 21 and two are minors. Authorities say that the group was involved in at least one other street takeover that, in one way, proved to be their undoing.
Video from the incident on Saturday, July 8th, shows spectators converging around cars doing donuts in an intersection. That intersection was N. Beach St. and N. Tarrant Parkway in Ford Worth. Police had a tip that just such an event might go down so they were already in position.
A second video, taken by a bystander who ended up stuck waiting for the takeover to end, shows police beginning their interaction with a gray Dodge Challenger. According to Fort Worth Police Officer Buddy Calzada, the conclusion of that video shows the beginning of a police chase.
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Evidently, the part of the chase involving the two-door muscle car ended fairly fast as another deputy successfully deployed spike strips. After pulling into a QT fuel station, five people bailed out of the Challenger and had enough time to get into a Dodge Charger before resuming the chase.
They managed to evade police once again in the sedan before ditching the vehicle in an underpass. They didn’t stay hidden for very long. Officers ultimately found two minors along with a 17-year-old, a 19-year-old, and a 20-year-old all hiding under a pickup truck.
Police say that this same group was involved in a separate takeover back in Austin, Texas on February 18th. In that case, an officer was injured and multiple cars sustained damage during the illegal event. It was such a big deal that Governor Greg Abbott launched a statewide task force specifically aimed at stopping such sideshows.
Two of the suspects face charges of evading arrest, while the third faces evading arrest along with a charge of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. Moreover, it turns out that after all of that, both Dodge muscle cars were stolen.