SILVER SPRING, Md. — Law enforcement in Montgomery County stopped at least one driver involved in a wild stunt that blocked a major intersection in downtown Silver Spring over the weekend.
In a two-minute-long video, a witness captured a car doing donuts and burnouts around a crowd as they stopped traffic in the middle of Georgia Avenue and Colesville Road late Saturday night. Another large group surrounded the car as fumes trickled into the air and the loud sound of drifting echoed the streets.
The video does not show if anyone was hurt.
Commander David McBain of the 3rd District Station said his officers were able to stop one driver who complied, although the charges remained unclear. The vehicle of the driver, whose name has not been officially released, had previously been pulled over 24 times, according to police.
A nearby business owner who wanted to remain anonymous told WUSA9 the incident is only raising more concerns.
"We don't really feel safe anymore when we see videos like this on the street," he said. "It's really insane because we have owners in this area who are trying to protect our businesses and our customers, so what's going on here is a little too much."
The business owner is also asking for more police presence to help tackle the problem and provide a feeling of safety.
McBain addressed worries from residents and businesses by saying police will put more focus and resources in the area to quickly reopen roads. He said response times to incidents can vary since they are impromptu.
"These things are normally on weekends at night and those are typically some of our busiest times when we're not just dealing with traffic incidents but a lot of other calls in the county," McBain explained. "This incident was a part of a weekend night where we were dealing with a number of different things."
Police will continue to break up any gatherings and pull drivers over if there is probable cause. Officers will not pursue vehicles since they can pose a bigger risk, McBain added.
Street racing, burnouts and donuts on public roads have been an ongoing trend across the DMV. However, McBain said the disruptive problem has primarily occurred in parking lots of shopping centers like the Burtonsville Town Square in Montgomery County.
"Now it's moved on and unfortunately, it has moved on to our roadways and in Montgomery County, we have not really seen where the intersections have been taken over like this," McBain said. "In the last couple of weekends, we saw this start to move out on the roadways which is pretty concerning for us."
There was also a similar event at New Hampshire Avenue and University Boulevard before Saturday where officers had to respond.