Fright and confusion were unleashed late Saturday night when a "car caravan" wreaked havoc in Beverly, performing reckless "doughnuts," setting off fireworks, and igniting a fire at the intersection of 103rd Street and California Avenue. As reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, this brazen display of automotive disorder broke away from a larger group, descending upon the quiet neighborhood around 11 p.m.
Ken Jones, a resident jarred awake by the event, described the scene to the Sun-Times: "I pulled myself up to go look, and sure enough there were these cars zooming around in circles in the intersection of 103rd and California with many, many, many people standing there watching them, cheering them on as they sped in crazy circles. It was totally horrible."
Both Chicago and Evergreen Park police were on the heels of the culprits, arriving on the scene within minutes. "They couldn’t possibly have come any faster than they did," Jones said. The ensuing dispersal left a trail of damaged front yards and the Ridge Country Club fence breached, as revealed in a statement from 19th Ward Alderman Matt O’Shea.
In the chaos, amidst the quickly dissipating tire smoke, a vacant Evergreen Park squad car fell victim, struck by one of the fleeing vehicles on the 10200 block of South California Avenue, according to the Beverly Review. The aftermath of the stunt driving left authorities detaining two individuals and impounding multiple cars, but no injuries were reported.
The larger car caravan, which originally congregated on the 8700 block of South Lafayette Avenue, had allegedly organized via social media. However, the Beverly intersection was not on the preplanned route, per Alderman O'Shea's remarks. CPD officials indicate that they are currently scouring area footage to identify other miscreants. The crackdown follows a City Council ordinance from the previous year devised to combat such "street takeovers," which had seen impoundment powers granted to the police, an attempt to put the brakes on similar future events.
