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The aftermath of a deadly crash on McClellan Avenue. (Photo: Michael Lucido)
A "Sunday Funday" of car stunts throughout Detroit ended with a Dodge Charger wrapped around a tree in flames, its 32-year-old driver dead.
The 11:30 p.m. accident, near E. Forest and McClellan, capped off a warm day in which a group of drivers in high-powered vehicles took full advantage of Detroit streets emptied by coronavirus.
Throughout the evening, police responded to reports of as many as 100 vehicles gathered or speeding throughout different parts of the city, though Detroit Police Commander Franklin Hayes says officers observed only about 30 involved.
The police response kicked off a game of cat-and-mouse; when officers would arrive at one gathering spot, the drivers would speed to the next. No citations were issued. Detroit police policy prohibits pursuits for traffic violations alone.
As is often the case, cell phone cameras were out to film the antics. An Instagram video posted around 8 p.m. showed cars blocking a main road for a red Dodge to do donuts, with a DDOT bus stuck in the ensuing backup.
Franklin said the activity was "an unnecessary drain" on police resources as the coronavirus pandemic sickens or sidelines officers and keeps what's left of the force busy running spot checks to ensure residents adhere to social distancing rules. As of Friday, police had checked more than 10,000 locations in just over two weeks.
The department has "to expend 10 or 12 officers and a helicopter to do this when they could at the very least be patrolling the neighborhood or passing out masks for those that don’t have them during Covid," said Hayes. "We certainly would like to make better use of the taxpayers’ dollars and the resources of the Detroit Police Department as opposed to focusing our attention on this group of disrupters.”
Detroit police have struggled to curb dangerous driving activity on the city's streets for the better part of a year, since a high-profile summer incident on the Lodge captured national attention. So-called Sunday Funday drifter meetups, specifically, have increasingly become an issue in recent weeks.
Hayes promised a scaled-up response to deal with the drivers. The department plans to find those involved with help from Project Green Light surveillance video and social media footage. Potential penalties include reckless driving charges — a misdemeanor — and the seizure of vehicles.
The driver in Sunday's deadly crash was not known to be a part of the stunt events that took place throughout the day, Hayes said, though the incident remains under investigation.
The Charger snapped a tree before bursting into flames, a neighbor found cleaning up the mess told Deadline Detroit. The accident took out the fence of a nearby home and the fire melted some of its siding. No additional injuries were reported.
