Skid marks still streak the pavement at Knapp Street and Emmons Avenue weeks after the latest takeover, and Sheepshead Bay residents say they are done waiting for police to show up after the fact. The intersection near the Belt Parkway has become a magnet for drivers doing donuts and stunts in the middle of the night, and neighbors want patrols stationed there before the crowds even gather.
Video from an August 22 takeover, obtained by FOX 5 New York, shows fireworks going off, cars spinning donuts, and a spectator climbing onto scaffolding just to get a better view of the chaos. One onlooker was nearly struck by a car doing a donut in the intersection that night, according to the same report. Sheepshead Bay resident Diana Tsevryk said the noise from these gatherings gets loud enough to set off nearby alarms, and she is among the neighbors calling for more NYPD patrols in the area.
Residents describe the pattern as familiar by now: crowds typically gather between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m., turning the intersection into an impromptu racetrack before scattering. Neighbor Igor Mukhin said that when police do arrive, the crowds usually flee straight onto the highway, using the Belt Parkway as an easy escape route out of the area.
A Highway Escape Route Complicates Enforcement
That pattern of vanishing onto the parkway isn't just a coincidence of geography. Longtime residents note that Knapp Street and the surrounding Belt Parkway corridor have been popular for illegal drag racing for decades, with activity shifting toward highway ramps after traffic lights went in locally, according to News 12 Brooklyn. The nearby highway offers quick routes into Queens or Long Island once a takeover breaks up. According to the NYC Jamaica Bay Plan Implementation Plan, intersection improvements at Knapp Street and Emmons Avenue have been recommended.
City Councilmember Inna Vernikov, whose District 48 covers Sheepshead Bay, has pointed to a structural obstacle facing officers who respond to these scenes. She said NYPD officers operate under a no-chase policy that bars them from actively pursuing fleeing drivers, which she says lets participants scatter onto the Belt Parkway the moment police show up, as detailed by News 12 Brooklyn.
Vernikov said the NYPD's 61st Precinct made two arrests connected to drag racing at Knapp Street and Emmons Avenue over the August 22 weekend, and that the people involved were not local residents. One of those arrested, 19-year-old Jamar Gordon of Freeport, Long Island, was charged with reckless endangerment and having a dirty or covered license plate, per an NYPD arrest report cited by FOX 5 New York reporter Kelly Kennedy.
Precinct Numbers Show a Mixed Picture
The 61st Precinct, headquartered at 2575 Coney Island Avenue, covers Sheepshead Bay, Kings Bay, Gravesend, and Manhattan Beach, and handles both routine traffic enforcement and quality-of-life complaints across those neighborhoods. Crime figures cited in July showed overall major crime citywide down roughly 7% year-to-date compared with 2025, even as quality-of-life complaints tied to street takeovers continued to fuel community safety debates, Hoodline previously reported on neighborhood crime concerns.
Sheepshead Bay's frustration mirrors a wider pattern playing out across the city this year. An April takeover in Maspeth, Queens, left spectators damaging an NYPD cruiser, and a July takeover in Sheepshead Bay injured responding officers, according to CBS News. NYPD leadership has pointed to an increase in coordinated late-night car meets organized through social media as a driver of the trend.
Lawmakers Weigh Tougher Penalties
City lawmakers are already responding to that broader pattern. Council Member Phil Wong introduced Intro 984 in July, legislation that would create a permanent, citywide NYPD Street Takeover Unit tasked with monitoring social media to intercept unsanctioned car meets before crowds ever assemble, following chaotic gatherings across Queens and Brooklyn.
At the state level, Assembly Bill A6986A, known as Brendon's Law, was amended in May and would create misdemeanor charges and authorize vehicle civil forfeiture for participants, organizers, and spectators within 200 feet of illegal sideshows and takeovers. Currently, state Vehicle and Traffic Law Section 1182 makes participating in an unauthorized speed contest a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment of not more than six months.
Neighboring Suffolk County on Long Island has already gone further than the city or state currently do. Its law allows police to arrest spectators standing within 200 feet of an illegal street takeover, subjecting them to up to six months in jail and a $600 fine, following the county's own wave of violent car meets.
For now, Sheepshead Bay residents say they just want to see prevention rather than reaction: more patrols positioned at Knapp Street and Emmons Avenue before the next takeover starts, not squad cars arriving after the donuts have already been carved into the asphalt.
