Shocking moment truck plows into crowd at street takeover as ghoulish spectators rush to the crash to film victims and jump on the vehicle

A pickup truck plowed into a crowd during an unruly 'street takeover' event in South Los Angeles, triggering a swarm of spectators to run towards the crash and film it.

The wreck happened at the intersection of Normandie Avenue and West Gage Avenue Friday night and was filmed live on the streaming platform Kick.

Footage shows a silver pickup truck doing donuts around a steel barrel with a fire burning in it. The driver appears to lose control of the vehicle and drives into a crowd that has gathered nearby.

Other onlookers exclaim and hurry towards the crash site with their cellphones raised. A group of young men climb on top of the truck before members of the crowd shout that the driver appears to be backing up.

Street takeovers, also known as sideshows, are informal demonstrations of car stunts that are often held in public intersections. The meetups are subject to bouts of gun violence and fatal crashes, with most injuries going unreported to law enforcement.

A pickup truck plowed into a crowd during a street takeover in South Los Angeles

The driver appeared to lose control of the vehicle and ran into a group of spectators gathered at the intersection of West Gage Avenue and Normandie Avenue

Other onlookers exclaimed and hurried to the crash site, raising their cellphones to capture the chaos

It's unclear if anyone was hurt in the Friday incident.  

The latest takeover comes on the heels of a similar event last weekend, which involved an estimated 50 cars. The crowd was beginning to scatter by the time officers arrived at around 3:30 am Saturday. 

That morning, a Jeep was doused in gasoline and set ablaze at the intersection  of Crenshaw Boulevard and West 63rd Street as another vehicle did donuts around it. No injuries were reported and no arrests were made, officials said.

Street takeover events have a deadly track record. In August 2023, two people were killed after gunshots erupted during a meetup in the Florence-Graham neighborhood. One victim died at the scene while the other died at the hospital.

In perhaps one of the most infamous cases, a nursing student died after she was pinned between a light pole and an out-of-control Chevy Camaro in December 2022.

Three cars were speeding and doing donuts at the intersection of Florence Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard when one of the drivers lost control and ran into a crowd on the sidewalk. Elyzza Guajaca, 24, was taken to the hospital and later succumbed to her injuries.

Surveillance video showed the driver climbing out of the car and fleeing on foot after getting into a scuffle with witnesses. That man, 28-year-old Dante Chapple Young, was apprehended in New Mexico and charged in connection to Guajaca's death.

Early last month, the Los Angeles City Council voted 12-to-1 to launch a pilot program at 20 intersections to combat street takeovers. Raised center lines will be installed to deter motorists from doing stunts, officials said. 

The intersection at Normandie and Gage is among those targeted in the initiative. 

The Los Angeles Police Department is also requesting that cameras be installed at street corners. The program is still in development, with officials aiming to identify 30 more intersections in the coming months.

Last Saturday morning, a Jeep was doused in gasoline and set on fire at a different intersection. The vehicle burned in the middle of the street as another car did donuts around it 

Nursing student Elyzza Guajaca, 24, was killed in 2022 after an out-of-control driver crashed into a crowd, pinning her between a lamppost and his vehicle

Speaking to KTLA last year, LAPD Detective Ryan Moreno denounced the illegal meetups in the wake of Guajaca's death.

'People are getting ran over, hit, people are getting attacked, assaulted. We’re waiting, like, "Where’s the police report?" and they never come forward,' Moreno said.

'It’s kind of sick in a way. This culture is, that’s kind of what they do.

'It’s kind of like a code I guess they go by, where somebody would get beaten nearly to death and they don’t come forward to be a victim.'

In a news release last month, the LAPD's Street Racing Tasking Force announced the arrest of a man believed to be one of the largest street takeover organizers in the southern part of the state.

The agency executed a residential search warrant in the city of Paramount and arrested Erick Romero Quintana, 20, the morning of February 7.

'With over 70,000 followers on social media, this organizer has coordinated events throughout Southern California that have not only resulted in large-scale takeovers but also smash-and-grab robberies, vehicle thefts, and other violent crimes including murder,' the release read.