Fire, 100 mph races and Instagram stardom: The world of Durham’s street takeovers
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Street takeovers in Durham feature racing, stunts, and viral social media posts.
- Police link multiple Instagram accounts to organized criminal street activity.
- North Carolina law now classifies some takeover activity as a Class H felony.
The 911 call came in just before 2 a.m. that February night.
“There’s a car club again, about 100 cars near the Durham Bulls park,” officers reported on radio traffic recordings shared with The News & Observer. “They’re … making a ring of fire in the roadway.”
Police would discover a melted Durham Bulls sidewalk sign, evidently damaged in a fire set with an accelerant, according to a search warrant. Surveillance footage from cameras overlooking the intersection of Blackwell Street and Jackie Robinson Drive would show “[d]ozens of cars and over a hundred people” blocking the roadway and parking on sidewalks before officers arrived.
“The video shows cars drifting in the middle of the intersection around a circle of fire while the crowd watches and encourages,” the warrant states. “Many of the spectators have their cell phones out recording the reckless driving.”
The spectacle was what’s known to police as a street takeover. It’s when car enthusiasts gather in intersections and parking lots, typically impeding traffic, to perform stunts like doughnuts, burnouts and wheelies, according to North Carolina law.
Dangerous driving isn’t the only threat. Spectators have been known to arrive armed or to set things on fire to get the best visuals for social media, where car meet accounts can attract tens of thousands of followers.
And as of December 2023, it’s a Class A1 misdemeanor in North Carolina.
Who’s doing it?
The more than a dozen 911 calls that came in the night of Feb. 22 and early morning of Feb. 23 were a particularly extreme example, but street takeovers aren’t a new phenomenon for the Bull City.
Sgt. John Wagstaff, who works in the Durham Police Department’s organized crime division, told The N&O the problem has steadily increased since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We saw it first really manifest in the end of 2020, into 2021, and over time, it’s increased in the size of attendees it attracts and how long it’s active in the city,” Wagstaff said. “Before, it was moreso limited to parking lots and parking decks after business hours, late at night. … Now they have kind of graduated to doing that and taking over specifically the intersections.”
The meetups are popular with young adults, with those in their mid-20s commonly organizing the meetups and teenagers usually participating, Wagstaff said.
And it’s not just locals taking over Durham’s streets. Of the 21 people arrested in the February meetup, half weren’t from Durham, according to court records. Five were from other towns in the Triangle, four were from towns outside the Triangle in North Carolina, and two were from Virginia.
That’s a common theme nationally, Wagstaff said.
“We’ve had some people come to Durham, like for the February 22 takeover, that were from as far as upstate Virginia, and those same people have traveled to Philadelphia and New York City for takeovers,” he said.
Participants in Durham’s takeovers may also have connections to other takeovers throughout the state. Daniel Alexander Valladares, 18, of Durham was charged in the February takeover, but court records show he also faces four pending street takeover charges in Charlotte.
Why does it matter?
Search warrants and 911 calls from the Feb. 22 takeover paint a picture of quickly unfolding chaos.
The first signs of trouble emerged at 10:35 p.m., when police were informed of a car club meeting in the 4400 block of Fayetteville Street, according to a search warrant. An hour later, multiple 911 callers reported car races, vehicles performing stunts with people hanging out of the window and a ring of fire in the street that people were jumping over near Hillsborough Road and Ninth Street, the warrant states.
Between 20 and 30 cars were seen by police leaving the area about 20 minutes later. It was quiet for an hour before 911 got a report at 1:15 a.m. about roughly 40 vehicles drifting in the Topgolf parking lot, according to the warrant.
Fifteen minutes later, a serious crash occurred on the Durham Freeway after at least four cars raced each other at speeds around 100 mph, the warrant states.
And 10 minutes after that, the mayhem came to Blackwell Street, the site of the melted Bulls sign, before ending around 2 a.m. at South Roxboro Street.
Takeovers are typically planned in advance and can carry clout on social media, Wagstaff said.
Search warrants show police investigated more than 40 Instagram accounts in connection with the February takeover in Durham. At least two ads for the takeover were posted on Jan. 28 and Feb. 21 by two separate accounts, the warrants allege.
“The post caption directed followers and prospective attendees to not race between spots, ‘mask up,’ ‘cover tags’ and ‘block feds,’” one search warrant states.
Videos posted of the takeover led to at least one participant’s car being seized, according to the warrants. Valladares is accused of running a popular Instagram account selling flags branded with the account’s name.
“This flag could be seen prominently flown from vehicles as they performed donuts, burnouts, and other actions during the takeover,” Charlotte-Mecklenburg police wrote in a search warrant.
When law enforcement arrests the organizers behind such accounts, they’ll often hand over the accounts to other people, continuing the meetups, Wagstaff said.
Can anything be done?
Durham police will continue to crack down on street takeovers, as indicated by the February search warrants and an additional nine arrests tied to a March takeover. But outside of law enforcement, parents can play a role too, Wagstaff said.
“I think parents need to be aware of the social media accounts their children have,” he said. “They bear some of the responsibility for their behavior. There are definitely parents who are not aware of the extent of what is going on at these takeover incidents.”
Participants also need to be aware of the consequences, Wagstaff said.
Under North Carolina law, first-time offenders who drive in a takeover or participate in, coordinate through social media or “otherwise commit any act in furtherance of” a takeover can be charged with a Class A1 misdemeanor. That could carry jail time of up to 150 days and a minimum fine of $1,000, the law states.
Those who do it again within two years of an initial conviction could face a Class H felony with a minimum fine of $1,000 or twice the value of their vehicle — whichever is more, according to the law. Street takeovers also become a Class H felony if the person assaults or threatens a law enforcement officer in the process, the law states.
Motor vehicles used in street takeovers can also be seized by the state.
“[It], frankly, is a criminal enterprise, in a sense,” Wagstaff said. “It’s just no one talks about that with what is sometimes perceived as silly traffic crimes, but that’s basically what it is.”
Reporter Virginia Bridges contributed to this story.
