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Maybe you caught this show on Sunday, too.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety confirmed reports that dozens of vehicles intentionally blocked traffic while some performed stunts on parts of two freeways.
Just after 3 p.m. on Sunday, 911 calls started pouring in regarding at least 30 pickups driving together very slowly on U.S. 60 near Greenfield Road, says Officer Carrick Cook, a DPS spokesman.
No citations were issued at that time. The group is believed to have met up at Tempe Marketplace before heading out to the road again. About an hour later, DPS began taking calls about further trouble-making, apparently by the same folks.
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The hooligans blocked other traffic from getting on westbound freeway ramps on the Loop 202 in west Tempe, while — according to callers — one more car may have spun “doughnuts” on the asphalt, Cook says.
A DPS officer who responded to the scene after the event didn’t observe any violations. But he managed to stop one pickup that seemed to be leading others and cited him for a minor traffic violation. “The driver indicated they were driving in a year-end event,” Cook says.
No video, official or otherwise, has surfaced of the show — yet. You’re welcome to share if you captured some of this, though we’ll also warn you that DPS is looking for footage, too. Of the evidentiary kind.
The incident recalls a dumb and ultra-dangerous freeway stunt show in Oakland last January that’s still drawing clicks on YouTube, as well as the unauthorized freeway closures by motorcyclists in New York City that preceded a attack on a driver and his family.
Cook says DPS worries these incidents could cause copycat violators.
Seems like a good way to create a whole lot of road rage all at once.
Got a tip? Send it to: Ray Stern.
