Two arrested in ‘vehicle takeover’ of Beverly Hills intersection

Beverly Hills police arrested two people late Friday near an intersection where more than 100 motorists had converged to conduct a “vehicle takeover” in order to perform “reckless driving maneuvers” for a crowd of at least 150 gathered spectators, authorities said.

Police received reports of the meet-up, referred to as a “takeover” or “sideshow,” about 11:30 p.m. Friday, according to a police statement on the department’s Twitter account Saturday afternoon. Officers responded to the intersection of Canon Drive and Lomitas Avenue, where vehicles were blocking “all six points of the intersection” when officers arrived.

“After forming a safe tactical plan, BHPD officers convoyed into the center of the incident causing all vehicles and spectators to flee immediately,” the department said. “Officers stopped several vehicles, which led to [the] arrest” of two suspects.

The department’s statement initially said that police made “several arrests,” but Sgt. Joshua Cudworth said there were only two arrests. He declined to provide any additional information, including what charges the two people face.

Cudworth said, “a vehicle sideshow or vehicle takeover is a gathering of a large number of people taking over a street and then they facilitate high speed driving and reckless maneuvers.”