Two people are dead after a fatal car crash occurred during an illegal street takeover in Fort Worth.
Street takeovers involve multiple people in vehicles shutting down a specific area, preventing other motorists from traveling. Takeovers usually involve motorists engaging in burnouts and doing dangerous stunts.
Police responded to calls about the illegal street takeover on January 22 at University Drive near West 7th Street and White Settlement Road around 11 p.m.
Several cars were performing stunts and blocking traffic, according to witnesses speaking to Fox 4.
A red Camaro, described as the lead car, fled when officers arrived on the scene but crashed and flipped after hitting a curb, flying off the causeway, and landing upside down near White Settlement Road and Henderson Street, according to WFAA.
Four people were in the red Camaro when it crashed.
Officers were able to pull out two survivors with non-life-threatening injuries from the wreckage, but the other two individuals — a female driver and a male passenger — did not survive. Authorities have not publicly identified the injured or deceased.
The accident happened in front of Crash Brothers Paint & Body. The business’s owner, Chris Garcia, spoke to Fox 4 and said he feels sympathy for the families of those involved.
“Now, every day, when I come to the office, I’ll think about those two lives that were lost,” he said. “It’s a very sad thing, and that’ll be always hard for anyone to overcome so the best to them.”
Charges will not be filed against the two survivors, according to police.
Across North Texas, illegal street takeovers have been on the rise in recent years, as previously reported in The Dallas Express.
So much so that in 2021, the Dallas Police Department had to form a dedicated street racing task force, though it is unclear whether the unit is getting what it needs from the city council to be an effective deterrent.