When Brian Levinson walked out of his home to investigate several minutes of nonstop tire screeching Sunday night near his Chatsworth home, he was stunned by what he saw.

The often busy intersection of Mason Avenue and Plummer Street had been taken over sometime before 9 p.m. by a sideshow, where at least one truck and a car were doing loud and dangerous stunts in front of scores of spectators.

The participants “shut down the whole intersection and were doing doughnuts like crazy – no cars in, no cars out,” Levinson, who lives north of the intersection, said. “It lasted for almost half an hour….It was pretty bold.”

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The father of two, who said he tried calling 911 twice around 9:08 p.m. but couldn’t get through, would occasionally hear drivers doing doughnuts or even street racing in the area. But that was usually after midnight and they would quickly move on, he said.

But “like this, it’s never happened,” Levinson said.

Another neighbor, Maria Avila, said she saw many motorists park their cars on Plummer Sunday night before running to the intersection to watch the spectacle, which she estimated lasted up to 20 minutes. One middle-aged spectator asked her not to call the police, she said, though she also tried twice and couldn’t get through.

“It’s crazy and it’s dangerous,” she said.

Avila’s son David, who caught part of the event on video, said participants had put up cones at each corner of the intersection, blocking traffic and trapping hapless motorists on each side. They said the participants and spectators – who were mere feet away from the stunts – started to scatter when they heard a police siren.

The previous weekend, at least one motorist took over the same intersection to do doughnuts (or 360s) with their vehicle at about the same time, Avila and others said.

LAPD’s Valley Traffic Division had a street racing task force that was created in late 2014, but it was disbanded a few years ago due to a lack of resources. Those who engage in illegal street racing often engage in dangerous maneuvers, such as doughnuts.

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Capt. Andy Neiman, commanding officer of LAPD’s Valley Traffic Division, argues that there hasn’t been the need to re-establish the task force since such large group events have mostly died down in the Valley. But he noted that they’re starting to see a resurgence here.

“The complaints we get are intermittent; it’s not a constant chronic issue that would at this point, warrant a task force,” he said, noting that LAPD’s Central and South Bureaus currently have such units.

Sgt. Joseph McDowell of LAPD’s Devonshire Division said they responded to two calls around 9:10 p.m. Sunday night reporting a large number of vehicles racing – one incident at Mason and Plummer and another at Mason and Lassen Street.

“When the officers got there – and they got there pretty quick – everyone was gone,” McDowell said, noting he had no record of an arrest or collision for those incidents.

(At least one witness, who identified herself only as Sue M. citing potential retaliation of participants, said she did get through to police. She then watched as a patrol car arrived and waited several minutes on Plummer with its siren on until other units came. The units, she said, then chased some of the vehicles.)

When such illegal events are staged, McDowell said, they tend to do it in industrial places or large empty parking lots. But catching sideshows or street racing events are often a challenge, particularly in the sprawling San Fernando Valley.

In the Devisonshire division, “we have a 48-square mile area to cover and we have limited resources to do that,” McDowell said.

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Neiman noted that events like taking over a street or intersection to do doughnuts or illegal street races – also referred to as “street takeovers” – are not only against the law but an “absolute disregard for public safety.”

They often have police lookouts and sometimes even drones that check for law enforcement before engaging in such behavior, he said. They also rely on social media to spread the word and use codes to avoid detection.

“It’s a dangerous activity; (and it) can be very dangerous for law enforcement to go in there if they don’t have sufficient numbers,” Neiman said. “Two or four police cars against 50 or 60 individuals in that behavior can be a very dangerous combination.”

On Feb. 25 at about 1:15 a.m., two city of San Fernando Police Department officers on routine patrol spotted two vehicles drag racing on Hubbard Street, a main artery of that city, according to Lt. Nichole Hanchett, SFPD’s patrol division commander.

While attempting to stop them, they came upon the intersection of Hubbard and Glenoaks Boulevard at the border with Sylmar, where more than 200 vehicles had blocked off the intersection and at least one car was doing doughnuts, she said.

“All other citizens and drivers not interested in being endangered by this reckless driver were trapped,” she said. “They were not able to go anywhere because all of the participating cars had boxed them in. That’s very disturbing.”

Video of the event posted on YouTube shows vehicles circling at high speed in the intersection. When officers arrive, some motorists appear unconcerned while others are defiant, ignoring orders from officers and driving away.

One person suspected of throwing a piece of cement at an officer was booked for assault with a deadly weapon, engaging in a speed contest and obstructing or resisting a police officer, Hanchett said. Another was cited for aiding and abetting a speed contest.

“We typically don’t see them in our city; typically, they are in the Valley but other areas,” she said.

LAPD’s Neiman says they are focusing their efforts today on engaging with drivers who have vehicles that are illegally modified typically to engage in such activity. They will stop them, inspect their vehicles and cite them when appropriate.

Officers also speak to them about the National Hod Rod Association’s Thursday Night Thunder event at the Irwindale Speedway, where community members can race their vehicle at the drag strip or do burnouts and doughnuts in a more controlled environment for $20 for the night.

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Hanchett noted it might be helpful to have a place like the Irwindale Speedway in the San Fernando Valley that motorists could use to legally race or do stunts. Law enforcement task forces dedicated to combating such activities and regularly monitoring social media are also valuable, she said.

“It seems like it’s a very popular activity,” she said. “As I come to find out, there’s a potential to make a significant amount of money gambling or wagering on these street races.”

Levinson, a lifelong Chatsworth resident, said the problem of illegal stunts and street racing in his community has been going on for decades. He was disappointed to hear that LAPD disbanded its street racing task force in the Valley some time ago.

“Street racing is going to be ongoing with these kids, regardless,” Levinson said. “It would be nice to have some (more) resources out there trying to combat it.”