Video shows woman punched, assaulted with traffic cone after confronting crowd at illegal Philly car meetup
PHILADELPHIA - Video shows a woman being beaten and shoved when police say they confronted a destructive crowd during an illegal car meetup in Philadelphia.
Authorities say hundreds of people gathered at nearly a dozen different locations in September to participate in car meetups that spiraled into chaos.
Large crowds surrounded cars in the street as they did donuts and other dangerous maneuvers, and set off fireworks.
Police have since announced several arrests stemming from the car meetups and several of the suspects taken into custody came from outside the city.
Philadelphia Police Inspector Raymond Evers stated, "If you were at multiple locations, we’re going to find you. Plain and simple. We’re gonna find you."
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Philly police issue warning to people active in car meetups as more arrests made
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.
Police say their efforts to crack down on illegal car meetups are working and, so far, they’ve made 10 arrests and have confiscated 32 cars.
Investigators shared surveillance video asking for help to identify more suspects, some of whom were seen assaulting a woman when she confronted the group.
Inspector Evers said the 49-year-old woman lived nearby and came outside because she saw people in the unruly crowd standing on top of her car. "During that [meetup] a confrontation happened where she was struck by a female in the back. During the confrontation, another male threw a traffic barrel, an orange traffic barrel at her, hit her in the back and knocked her down."
After that, police say another man pointed a gun at her, then fired in the air. She was bruised and shaken up.
The woman, Evers said, did not immediately seek medical attention, but went to the hospital the next day to get checked out for bruises and scrapes.
Police are searching for the three people seen in the video, a woman and two men, all in their 20s. And, police say more arrests are coming.
"We’ve locked up the promoters. We’ve locked up the people operating drones," Inspector Evers continued. "We’ve locked up the people actually doing the drifting. We still have 10 cars in custody and if the judge allows up, we will be crushing those cars. So, we’re taking this very seriously."
He went on to say, "We’re going to people’s houses and pulling them out of bed. Taking their cars, crushing their cars and intercepting their Instagram. And, if they monetize this in any way, we’re going to go after their money."
The Philadelphia Police Department has asked anyone with information on the suspects.
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