Atlanta

Wild video shows huge crowds gathered to do donuts, set off fireworks on empty streets

ATLANTA — Video posted on social media shows huge groups of people gathering to behave dangerously late Saturday night in at least two separate locations in Atlanta.

The crowds gathered days after Gov. Brian Kemp’s shelter-in-place order expired -- though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are still recommending social distancing.

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Wild video taken just before midnight outside the Mall West End shows people setting off fireworks and doing donuts in the middle of the road on Saturday night.

No one was arrested outside the Mall West End, but Atlanta police also responded to a scene on Spring Street near The Varsity where people reported reckless drivers. Police issued traffic citations to several drivers and arrested one for driving with a suspended license.

Channel 2′s Michael Seiden talked to Atlanta police, who confirmed that they responded to two separate incidents Saturday night but didn’t say if they were connected.

The Mall West End reopens on Monday.

The incidents follow a similar incident in early March where groups of people in cars did donuts on an empty Atlanta highway late at night.

Several people were arrested after video showed cars doing donuts under a bridge on I-285 near Atlanta’s airport.

“It was something like out of a movie,” a witness said at the time. “It was organized. They definitely had a system going.”


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