Illegal street racers taking advantage of coronavirus pandemic

DEKALB COUNTY — Police say illegal street racing and car stunts are still a major problem during the coronavirus lockdown.

New video circulating on social media shows hundreds of people at these shows when they need to be social distancing.

Channel 2’s Michael Seiden learned this is still going on despite the governor’s ban on gatherings of 10 or more people.

Multiple police agencies told Seiden that people are taking advantage of city and county roads that are now being used as racetracks, while most of us are sheltering in place.

“You start coming into Doraville, and you want to start dragging in the parking lot, we’re going to get you,” said Doraville Police Officer Gene Callaway.

Callaway shared dashcam video of officers breaking up a large crowd of suspected street racers and spectators who gathered at Honeysuckle Park earlier this month.

“We could not identify who was doing the driving,” Callaway said. “We cited over 100 individuals for loitering in a small park.”

Despite being greatly outnumbered, police still managed to make multiple arrests. Three suspects all in their 20s were put in handcuffs because of outstanding warrants

But street racing and car stunts are nothing new. We showed you wild video of drivers doing donuts and burnouts in the middle of I-285 in Clayton County earlier this month.

Other drivers described the scene as they waited for the interstate to reopen.

"They were hanging out of their cars, driving by with their phones and definitely had a system,” one driver said.

Atlanta police have also dealt with the same problem. We’ve received video that showed the tire marks left behind on the 17th Street bridge after reckless drivers put on a dangerous performance.

A spokeswoman for the DeKalb County police sent a statement condemning street racing and vowing to stay vigilant.

Wild video shows drivers doing donuts on I-285, shutting down traffic It happened Saturday night under Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport?s fifth runway on I-285.

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