By John Ruberry
Chicago is descending to anarchy, and it’s not just because of the shootings.
There are also Mad Max style “street takeovers” for Chicagoans to cope with on a regular basis.
Last night, CWB Chicago reports, there were several street takeovers. And at one of them, two people were shot.
So sometimes shootings and street takeovers are synchronous.
Street takeovers generally consist of domestic muscle cars meeting at predetermined gathering spots–social media gives the when and where–and the where is also always on a main thoroughfare. The street takeovers aren’t 1950s-style cruise night parades, the sports cars engage in such dangerous and possibly deadly activities and as drag racing, drifting and spinning donuts.
Chicago street takeovers happen about once a month, although the establishment local media tends to ignore them. For the most part, the cops just watch the cars drift. Last night was different because, as once again CWB Chicago tells us. Bricks were thrown at one Southwest Side street takeover and at another Southwest Side motorized mayhem rally, multiple objects at police officers.
I’ve never been a cop, but it’s pretty easy to ascertain how to end them–in Chicago and elsewhere.
The next time there is a street takeover, cops should just place spike strips on the offended streets. The car will end up with flat tires and possibly damaged wheels and a ruined suspension, but who cares? Driving is a privilege, as we know, not a right. And reckless driving is a crime. And streets are built and paid for by taxpayers for responsible transportation, not dangerous stunts.
Yes, the jackals who attend these might throw more objects at the law enforcement officers who lay down the strips–so cops working to reestablish order need to where riot gear–but word will get out, quickly, on social media of course, that the streets of Chicago are no longer open for street takeovers.
I’m eagerly awaiting the first insurance company to decline a claim on a car damaged during a street takeover.
Yes, speed strips are an easy solution.
Apparently, the CPD owns some spike strips. Two years ago, ABC Chicago reported that a pilot project to use spike strips to combat street takeovers–but apparently this project was grounded.
But will Chicago’s pro-criminal mayor, Brandon Johnson, allow it? He’s an apologist for Chicago’s lawbreakers. For instance, while mayor-elect last year, “Branjo” dismissed a downtown riots, saying that kids make “silly decisions.”
One more thing: According to CWB Chicago, of those few who offenders are arrested at Chicago street takeovers, “the participants who wind up in custody are almost always from the suburbs.” One man arrested last month, a cosplay cop, traveled from Columbia, Missouri with a flamethrower to raise hell at another Southwest Side street takeover.
So Branjo needn’t worry about losing votes if he cracks down on the criminals behind the wheels.
John Ruberry regularly blogs just north of Chicago at Marathon Pundit.
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