Feb. 22, 2023 Video footage from a chaotic street takeover in Austin shows fireworks exploding around a patrol car, and the raucous crowd was accused of damaging two Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office vehicles.
By Michael Murney, Source Houston Chronicle Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
You could probably smell burning rubber in the air if you were anywhere near downtown Austin Saturday night. Drivers and onlookers staged a chaotic “takeover” at an Austin intersection this weekend, according to videos posted to social media.
The takeover materialized at the intersection of Barton Springs Road and Lamar Boulevard in Austin, according to KXAN’s Aaron Crews.
Video posted by RawAlerts shows multiple drivers whipping donuts around the intersection at the same time as a dozen or so people stand in the center of the intersection. Exhaust and burning tire smoke cloud the scene as traffic sits at a standstill from all four directions.
RawAlerts’ footage then cuts to a crowd of people advancing down an Austin street while an Austin Police Department patrol car reverses with its lights and sirens blaring. Firecrackers explode near the retreating patrol unit a few seconds into the second clip.
Yet another clip shows even more cars spinning around the intersection at the same time as firecrackers burst over the crowd and onlookers cheer.
Texas Republicans and the Austin Police Union pounced on the viral social media footage. “Many thoughts about this maddening lawlessness in Austin last night… But more than anything: God bless our brave men and women in blue! Especially those working in cities where they’re undervalued, underpaid and under attack, like in Austin,” Plano state rep. Jeff Leach wrote on Twitter Sunday.
“Austin policy makers are directly responsible for the overall safety of their citizens & visitors,” Austin Police Union officials tweeted Sunday. “Looks like they failed to make the right decisions & continue to defund, destroy, & demoralize public safety. Austin was one of the safest cities, NOT anymore,” officials continued.
There’s no evidence that Saturday’s takeover resulted in anything beyond minor injuries, traffic delays and scalded asphalt: Two Travis County Sheriff’s Office patrol cars were damaged during encounters between the crowd and law enforcement, according to the Austin American-Statesman. Officials told the Statesman that one officer was injured, treated, and released from the hospital after responding to the takeover. No injuries were reported among participants, the Statesman reported Sunday.