Four cities across Connecticut were plagued by street takeovers where huge numbers of drivers took over their streets last weekend, leaving shoppers stranded in parking lots.
In North Haven, drivers brought traffic in the city to a halt while they threw firecrackers at police and bystanders, according to local police.
“It’s scary. Very scary,” one local resident told NBC News. “You can’t go anywhere. You don’t know what they’re up to. Are they destroying things? Are they hurting other people?”
Moment unruly crowd sets off fireworks, attacks cops during Connecticut street takeover https://t.co/HPD3M40slf pic.twitter.com/L3ZatTV4Pv
— New York Post (@nypost) December 15, 2023
Police, who attempted to break up the group, said the massive group of 500 drivers began their rampage in Shelton, then drove to North Haven, Orange, and Derby before returning to Shelton.
“They congregated here, talked to each other, see where they’re going to next,” Shelton Police Deputy Chief Kevin Stratton stated. “It’s 8 o’clock on a Saturday night during the holiday season. People are out shopping. When you have 3-500 cars coming to the shopping area, it literally bottlenecks the lights and all lanes of traffic.”
“We started here, and set the plan out, so we were ready for them when they got here and moved with them,” Shelton Police Chief Shawn Sequeira said. “We just got ahead of it and put the barricades and roadblocks up, so when they came to one particular area, we turned them away and we predicted the other areas they may attend.”
“Some of the vehicles traveled from New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Vermont for this event,” Shelton police detective Richard Bango said. “When the vehicles arrived at Research Drive business parking lots they were turned away. The group then attempted to plan alternative parking lots to gather along Bridgeport Avenue using social media.”
“Multiple parties involved began throwing fireworks towards Police and were not complying with orders,” the West Haven Police Department stated on Facebook. “As a result, our officers converged on the area and made 6 arrests. 4 adults and 2 juveniles were charged accordingly. Due to the large amount of video evidence our agency anticipates more arrests in the near future. Any attempts at “street takeovers” and/or blocking the roadways denying our citizens access to public safety will not be tolerated. Our agency will continue to investigate this and hold all parties involved accountable.”