TOLEDO, Ohio — On Monday the tire marks were still visible at the intersection of Hill Avenue and Reynolds Road -- just one of several locations where drivers converged to take over the streets and perform reckless stunts in their cars, some of which involved fire.
After videos of the cars blocking intersections, doing doughnuts and other dangerous stunts, many in Toledo have called on police to do more to crack down on such behavior.
Toledo Police Lt. Paul Davis confirmed the intersection "takeovers" happened at several intersections over the weekend, including Hill Avenue and Reynolds Road, Alexis and Telegraph roads, Sylvania Avenue and Jackman Road, and Secor Road and Central Avenue.
At one point, a ring of fire was alight in the middle of the intersection while two people in masks and carrying gas cans encouraged the vehicles taking part.
Chief George Kral released a statement Monday saying, "Let me be clear: what I saw on that video was a crime, and TPD is treating it as such. While our investigation is ongoing, I hope to be able to arrest and bring to justice those individuals responsible for Saturday night's shameful spectacle."
Davis explained several agencies are investigating the incidents.
"Right now, we're having criminal intelligence, field operations, our detective bureau, along with OSP (Ohio State Highway Patrol) working together to track down who was involved in this, who set it up, who orchestrated it," he said.
After speaking with the detectives, Davis said he was told the department was given a heads up back on May 5 about this event, which people are calling the "Slide or Hide." Police did not know the specific locations for the events in advance, they said.
He explained once calls started coming in Saturday night, crews responded and the large crowds quickly dispersed.
And in some of those calls were reports of gun shots being fired.
Kral also said the weekend event was "totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated."
He said, "the actions depicted in the video were dangerous and illegal. They should not be condoned or explained away as people 'having some fun' or 'blowing off steam."
Davis said police are asking for help from the public to put a stop to this.
"Please call us with information that you have," he said. "We are taking this seriously. We're working within our different units internally, externally with Ohio State Highway Patrol and we need the community to partner with us and let us know what they know."
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