Cars spun donuts and drifted through the intersection of 111th Street and Western Avenue over the weekend, gouging tire marks into the pavement and setting off a wave of more than 170 calls to Chicago police as Morgan Park residents scrambled to make sense of the chaos outside their windows.
The takeover unfolded overnight from Saturday into Sunday, according to CBS News Chicago, marking what the outlet reported was Morgan Park’s first known street takeover of this kind. Twelve Chicago police districts responded to incidents that night, and officers arrived at the Morgan Park scene roughly three minutes after the first 911 call came in — but the drivers had already scattered, fleeing south toward suburban Blue Island once police showed up.
Residents Dontae Walls and Christine McGovern told the station the noise was impossible to ignore. Walls said the sound was loud, while McGovern described hearing what sounded like repeated bangs. The station reported that Morgan Park residents did the right thing by calling 911 as the disruption spread through the neighborhood.
Alderman Says Police Hands Are Tied
19th Ward Ald. Matt O’Shea said police hands are tied when responding to these incidents, a frustration rooted in Chicago Police Department policy limiting when officers can give chase. Under CPD General Order G03-03-01, officers cannot pursue fleeing drivers unless there is a clear need for immediate apprehension that outweighs the risk to public safety — a rule that keeps officers from chasing cars fleeing a takeover rather than a violent crime…