Cars spun donuts, and fireworks lit up the intersection of East 10th Avenue and North Broadway around 10:40 p.m. Sunday as a street takeover overwhelmed the residential Denver block, trapping other drivers in the chaos and sending them honking their horns just to get through. By the time Denver Police Department officers arrived, the vehicles had already cleared out, and no arrests or citations came out of the scene.
Micaiah Lambright, who lives near the intersection, told Denver7 that the noise became out of control around 10:30 p.m. Sunday. Lambright said drivers were trapped in the takeover and honking from various corners as they tried to escape the gridlock, and is now calling for action to keep the streets safe in what is otherwise a residential neighborhood.
The Denver Police Department's dedicated street racing team, which includes one supervisor and several officers pulled from different city districts, responded to the scene but did not catch anyone in the act. The unit does not patrol every night; instead, officers proactively patrol parking lots, roads, and highways where takeovers and street racing have previously been reported, scheduling operations around days and times with historically high activity.
A Pattern Repeating Across the Metro
Sunday's incident was not isolated. A separate street takeover hit Broadway and Mississippi earlier this month, and another erupted on Federal Boulevard in July. Denver police have made at least 59 arrests and issued 289 citations tied to street racing and speed exhibition so far this year, while impounding 44 vehicles connected to the same activity.
The department's specialized team has shown it can produce results when it catches a takeover in progress. In a June 28 sweep detailed in earlier Hoodline reporting, officers stopped 19 individuals, cited or arrested four drivers for speed exhibition and reckless driving, and impounded four vehicles. But when crowds scatter the moment police show up, as they did Sunday, the street racing team often comes away empty-handed. Officers frequently invoke Colorado's vehicular eluding statute, Colorado Revised Statutes § 18-9-116.5, when drivers flee a takeover scene, a felony that carries mandatory court proceedings and potential prison time.
The Bill That Stalled in Committee
State Representative Chad Clifford, a Democrat representing Arapahoe County, sponsored a bill during the previous legislative session aimed at cracking down on street takeovers. Clifford and Republican Representative Chris Richardson, who represents the Eastern Plains, co-sponsored House Bill 26-1329, which would have created escalating penalties for stunt driving, including fines, license suspension, and possible vehicle impoundment, and would have made participation in a coordinated street takeover a class 6 felony.
The proposed legislation died in committee after members raised concerns that its definitions were too broad and could sweep in cultural vehicle groups such as lowriders. Clifford said the bill did not specifically target those cultural groups, but acknowledged that existing laws simply are not equipped to address street takeovers as they currently unfold. He said the events are hard to track, handle, and resource for police departments already stretched thin.
Clifford also said tougher penalties do not always work on their own, even as he pointed to evidence suggesting escalating penalties can affect traffic safety outcomes. He plans to introduce a new version of the bill in the next legislative session, betting that a narrower approach might survive committee scrutiny where the first attempt did not.
Statewide Momentum Without a Unified Law
Colorado lawmakers did pass other traffic safety measures this year even as the takeover-specific bill failed. Senate Bill 26-035, signed by Governor Jared Polis on May 27 and effective August 12, established escalating license points for repeat speeders, mandatory court appearances instead of mail-in fines, and four additional points for drivers caught going 100 mph or faster, according to Steamboat Radio.
With no statewide takeover law on the books, some municipalities have moved on their own. Broomfield's City Council unanimously enacted a vehicular public nuisance ordinance in May allowing local police to impound vehicles involved in street racing, drifting, burnouts, and takeovers, a step CBS News Colorado reported came after Broomfield police logged over 90 street racing and takeover incidents in 2025. Colorado Springs adopted a similar Vehicle Public Nuisance Ordinance back in February 2023, which led to the seizure of multiple sports cars tied to online stunt-driving videos.
Denver already has its own version of that tool. The city's Public Nuisance Abatement ordinance allows police to impound vehicles tied to repeat street racing offenses, and the department encourages residents to report active takeovers or planned racing gatherings through its online portal at ReportStreetRacing.com. The scale of the problem extends beyond Denver's borders: a regional task force in neighboring Jefferson County logged 1,473 street racing and takeover complaints in the first nine months of 2025 alone, following nearly 2,000 complaints the year before, as previously reported by Hoodline.
The stakes were made grimly clear in Colorado Springs earlier this year, when an illegal street race in the Briargate area caused a head-on crash that killed a 77-year-old bystander on March 22, prompting two participants to surrender to police. For residents like Lambright living along Broadway, that kind of outcome is precisely what fuels the frustration when a takeover fills their block with fireworks and spinning tires, and police still leave without a single arrest.
