Fourth of July celebrations turned chaotic in numerous areas across the U.S., prompting police intervention. One such incident occurred in Detroit, where a street takeover caused severe unrest in the area.
A video circulating on social media shows roads being blocked, intersections being set on fire, and cars doing burnouts around them.
Not only that, fireworks were reportedly launched at the police and the crowd, but it is not known if anyone was injured.
Questions are now being raised about the unlawful manner in which people celebrated the country’s 250th anniversary.
Detroit Police Intervene
A video shared by Metro Detroit News on Instagram highlights how a street takeover during July 4 celebrations put many lives at risk, as people blocked roads and intersections, and performed donuts.
A red sedan and a white pickup truck could be seen doing donuts around a group of people in the opening clip, while another clip shows youngsters climbing atop cars in traffic.
Then someone set fire to an intersection while a black sedan performed donuts around the flames before fireworks were launched towards the sky. Someone also launched flares from a car toward the crowd.
A white sedan, which appeared to be a Ford Crown Victoria, was spotted doing burnouts, followed by more fireworks that were fired in different directions, covering the area with smoke.
The camera then shows a traffic jam caused by the street takeover, in which a fire truck was stuck. The video mentions that fireworks were thrown at the police during the street takeover, but there is no mention of any arrests. The post confirmed that the police acted and disrupted these takeovers. It reads:
“🚨 July 4th street takeovers and block parties popped up across Detroit, from the west side to the east side.
“Detroit police broke up multiple gatherings throughout the night. At times, fireworks were launched toward police and fire trucks as crews worked to clear the areas. Watch above for more.”
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“Nothing About This Looks Fun”
Given the nature of celebrations that could have caused serious injuries and triggered major fires, Instagram users have called out the street takeover. Some reactions are below:
One user wrote:
“Nothing about this looks fun”
Another user wrote:
“God bless the police and fire departments. Having to deal w all of this mess..” [sic]
A user said this looks straight out of a movie:
“this look like a movie scene 😭” [sic]
Does the world think this way? A user wrote:
“And we wonder why the world thinks Detroit is a mess”
One user said the parents of these youngsters need to do better:
“God bless the police officers and fire fighters —these kids are nuts. Parents have to do better.”
Another user called the takeover a mess:
“I’m all for having fun and celebrating (not this holiday) but this just looks a hot mess. The younger crowd is going nuts this summer.”