Police and residents searching for answers after ‘drifting’ cars close Dayton streets

DAYTON — There was a ‘pop street takeover’ and chaos at a Downtown Dayton intersection this weekend.

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News Center 7 showed an online video Monday of high-performance cars doing donuts in the area of east Third and South Jefferson Streets around 1 a.m. Sunday morning.

Since then, we’ve learned the group of cars went to half a dozen different spots in our area.

News Center 7′s Mike Campbell says Dayton residents and police want answers.

He reports the corner of East Third Street and N. Jefferson Street appears to be the last place the street takeover drivers went Sunday morning on a six-step journey that generated most of the attention downtown.

Dayton Police say any place where dangerous driving happens, puts both the people in the cars and those watching at risk.

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News Center 7 has learned the Dayton street takeover appears to be a planned event and all six stops were captured on video, then uploaded to YouTube in a video titled “Dayton Street Takeover.”

“Everybody’s about to pull off so I don’t want to be left,” said the narrator. “I got word of a takeover tonight, we’re going to go out and get some footage and I’ll see you all once I cut the camera back on.”

Engines were roaring and spinning at first stop.

Campbell says the video shows hard spins called ‘drifting’ by drivers and often with passengers hanging dangerously out of the car, motioning to spectators.

The event lasts until police are spotted, they then moved to a second location on the West Dayton/Trotwood border.

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“As you all can see, the cops are everywhere, so we’re on the way to the third spot, I’m going to cut the camera off, I’ll see you when I cut it back on.”

Campbell said this led to several takeovers in Downtown Dayton.

“Yeah, bro, just got crazy, they’re turning (video showing 2 crazy car passes) that one up,” said the narrator.

Dayton Police told Campbell the danger of this type of driving behavior is bad anytime, especially in Downtown Dayton.

Officers tried to get to the scene and break things up. They confronted drivers doing the stunts and drivers trying to stop them from breaking things up.

Online video showed one woman going down hard when an officer was trying to arrest her and lost her grip on the women’s jacket, forcing the woman to lose her balance and fall.

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Saundra Ford, 24 of Indianapolis, was arrested on several charges including obstructing justice, resisting arrest, failure to comply, and Illegal transporting of intoxicating liquor. News Center 7 has not confirmed if she is the woman seen falling in the video.

Dayton Police told Campbell they are working on plans to address the issue.

“We’re formulating plans to continue to address this issue,” said Major Jason Hall, Dayton Police. “We are going to, at every step, do our best to hold people accountable.”

There were still skid marks on the ground in the area of Jefferson Street as drivers took off when Dayton Police Officers arrived.

Campbell has reached out to the content creator responsible for uploading the video to YouTube in an attempt to speak about the takeover.

News Center 7 is waiting for a response.

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