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Massive car takeover rocks Queens neighborhood, rowdy trio damage NYPD vehicle

Julian Roberts-Grmela, Nicholas Williams and Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News on

Published in News & Features

NEW YORK — A brazen trio jumped on the hood of a marked New York Police Department vehicle, cracking its windshield after police responded to a massive car takeover early Saturday morning in Queens, officials said.

Cops rushed to the scene of a drag-racing street takeover after multiple 911 calls around 1:50 a.m. at Eliot Ave. and 69th St. in Middle Village. As the officers arrived and turned on their patrol car flashing lights and sirens, the crowd of spectators and drivers dispersed. But three unidentified individuals jumped on top of one of the police cars, cracking its windshield, cops said.

The disorderly trio then hopped into a vehicle and fled.

“I’ve seen the videos, and what happened at 69th Street and Eliot Avenue is disgusting,” local Queens Councilman Phil Wong said. “This kind of reckless behavior is an attack on our quality of life, and it cannot be tolerated. These takeovers and the ongoing late-night car meetups blasting music are exactly the kind of chaos my office is working to stop.”

Wild video of the car takeover shared by Wong on social media showed multiple cars doing tire-screeching donuts near a ring of fire on the street, with a passenger in one car holding a large Palestinian flag out the window before cops arrived.

“They were spinning the cars, doing the donuts, the fire they put, I think they put alcohol in the pavement, and they put it on fire, they lit it on fire. It was scary because the gas station is here and across the street,” a resident who lives nearby the intersection for the past three years named Steve, 54, said.

“They were waving the Palestinian flag, I don’t know why, what it has to do with this.”

Around 100 vehicles were involved in the takeover, Wong said on X.

Residents living nearby were awakened from their sleep to the shrieking and squealing of tires braking at high speed.

“We hear, like, the braking of the tire, and, you know, like that type of noise,” said a 42-year-old resident who lives near the scene. “And we were all asleep, and then we were woken up. And then when we look out from the window, and they are, like, a bunch of cars, like circling in the intersection. And then, you know, like they are going with a huge speed, and then braking.”

 

In addition to the raging fire, at one point, one of the revelers shot green laser beams into the intersection.

One “Fast and Furious” wannabe was issued a summons for blocking the crosswalk after an NYPD commanding officer ordered an immediate canvass to stop any reckless driving, which led them to the motorist, cops said.

Additional video obtained by the Daily News shows the driver of one of the vehicles nearly hit spectators while doing donuts and spinning out in the intersection.

No one was injured in the incident.

“They were all of them teenagers, maximum 20 years old,” Steven said. “I blame the parents. It’s very expensive cars. How parents give a kid this age, this kind of car?”

“It’s just not fun, just lawless,” he added disapprovingly.

Wong said he has spoken to Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, as well as the commanding officer of the 104th Precinct, where the incident occurred, and was assured that the NYPD will make arrests in the incident.

Cops maintained a presence at the intersection all day Saturday as numerous circular black skid marks — that locals said were not there the day before — were clearly visible on the road.

“This kind of chaos has no place in our neighborhoods, and we need to be serious about addressing it,” Wong declared. “More (police) units will be out tonight, including drones and helicopters. All hands on deck.”


©2026 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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