PORTLAND, Ore. — On New Year's Eve weekend, street racers took to Portland intersections. Video shows cars pulling dangerous stunts and crowds of onlookers filling the streets.
JS Martin II stumbled upon a street takeover while he was biking down Marine Drive in North Portland on Saturday night.
He said it was surprising how close people got to the cars doing donuts.
"In that type of situation, you don’t know if someone is going to blow a tire, if someone is going to hit the gas too hard," Martin said.
About an hour later, just after 1 a.m. Sunday, a similar scene popped up at the intersection of Cully Boulevard and Prescott Street in Northeast Portland.
A rideshare driver, with a passenger in the car, was caught in the street-takeover traffic.
"They're doing donuts and I’m seeing a lot of smoke," he said. "I mean, there was so much smoke, it looked like something was on fire, but it wasn't. It was just their burning tires."
The driver didn't want to be identified, fearful someone in the crowd that night would retaliate. But he is concerned about community safety.
"It stops traffic for one," he said. "The big thing, and this is the main reason why I hate it, it's a major safety issue. People have died because of this."
The driver told KGW he called 9-1-1 but never saw police clear the scene.
"It makes me mad that you call and it’s just a waste," he said, adding that he wishes police departments could collaborate and patrol these areas together to stop the takeovers.
Martin also wondered why officers weren't showing up on Marine Drive. He can be heard in the video asking, "What I want to know is, how long does it take the cops to show up?"
A spectator behind him replies, "Never, they don't really show up."
In an effort to crack down on illegal street racing, Oregon and Washington lawmakers have both passed bills that impose harsher punishments for drivers and organizers.
Earlier this year, after another street takeover, Portland police told us they don't always have enough officers to coordinate a large enough response to end this type of street racing event safely.
KGW did reach out to police to ask if they made any arrests or plan to step up patrols. We did not hear back.