Philly police issue warning to people active in car meetups as more arrests made
PHILADELPHIA - Philadelphia police announced more arrests connected to the illegal car meetups that happened across the city in September. Police say one of the people arrested was one of the main promoters for the meetup.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel stated, "We were going to go after everybody that was involved in that operation and, most importantly, what was very clear, is that you are not going to attack my police officers. You’re not gonna jump on our cars and you’re not gonna treat us and devalue the work that we do each and every day."
Just over a month ago, hundreds of vehicles descended upon Philadelphia taking part in drifting, setting off fireworks and vandalizing police vehicles across 11 different locations.
"Many of them were from outside the city and they thought that they could come into the City of Philadelphia and do what they want," Commissioner Bethel continued.
The investigation spanned multiple states, as PPD worked to find those responsible for the chaos.
Philadelphia Police Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore said, "Those vehicles were taken as evidence and we used them to attempt to identify the people that operated them and owned them so we could make additional arrests."
More than 200 vehicles wreak havoc across Philadelphia prompting police crackdown
From an injured police officer to rubbish fires set, the Philadelphia Police Department is cracking down on illegal street racing and reckless driving after a series of ‘dangerous’ incidents across the city over the weekend.
Friday, PPD announced the arrests of nine individuals involved, including Joseph Cavanaugh, who police say posted videos online with his account and was able to profit from the monetizing the videos.
Deputy Commissioner Vanore went on, "What he was doing in this case was encouraging people, from not only Philadelphia, as Commissioner said, New York, New Jersey, states all around us, Delaware, to come into Philadelphia and participate in this."
One of those people was Juwarn Williams, from Maryland, who used drones to take footage of the meetups and put it online.
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"Thousands of dollars of sophisticated equipment. This was not the first time he’s done this. He flies it illegally within the city, within wherever these are occurring, films it and posts all these videos on social media," Deputy Commissioner Vanore explained.
PPD worked with Meta to get the sites taken down, but they’re continuing efforts to get ATVs off the streets. In fact, their confiscation numbers far surpass confiscations for the last two years.
Philadelphia Police Staff Inspector Michael Cram stated, "That has resulted in over 949 vehicles being confiscated. 473 of them are dirt bikes and ATVs."
They are making arrests on a slew of charges, including evading police. They’ve also confiscated guns in the process. Commissioner Bethel had an additional message, "We are going to try to lock up every person that came into our city and, first, disrespected my men and women , disrespected our city and what we stand for. You’re not gonna destroy the city. We’re gonna make the city a safe city we’re going to do that effectively together."