Atlanta police make 300+ traffic stops, citations this weekend in effort to stop street racing

ATLANTA — Atlanta police said it is continuing to fight illegal street racing in the city.

Over the weekend, police said it has made 127 traffic stops, issued 176 citations, arrested 10 people and impounded 10 cars involved in laying drag.

“We will employ our resources to cite and/or arrest those involved in this illegal, dangerous, and disruptive activity,” APD said in a statement.

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Authorities across metro Atlanta have been working to combat the rise of illegal street racing.

“It’s gotten really bad all over metro Atlanta,” said DeKalb Lt. Timothy Donahue.

Donahue said so called “takeovers” are posted on YouTube.

“These takeovers are basically like flash mobs, centered around reckless driving exhibitions in intersections or in large parking lots,” Donahue said.

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GBI Director Vic Reynolds said in May at an intersection near The Varsity, a man toting an assault rifle helped orchestrate a takeover but the GBI tracked him down and arrested him under the new street racing bill that Gov. Brian Kemp signed.

“We’ve seen people get struck by vehicle, we’ve seen head-on collisions where vehicles were racing to get to the next location where innocent people were just driving trying to get to their destination and ended up in a head-on collision” Donahue said.

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