Some Thought It Was a Terror Attack. Others, a Movie Set

Dozens arrested after vehicles do doughnuts in South Beach, causing fear and gridlock
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 21, 2020 10:25 AM CST

If you were in Miami Beach Saturday night, you may have been witness to quite a street spectacle. Per NBC News, a group of cars converged on an intersection in the neighborhood of South Beach, then start doing doughnuts, while people who appeared to be part of the group stood in the middle of the intersection recording the action (video here). NBC Miami reports the vehicles were seen doing their doughnut demo for at least 11 minutes. WPLG, which calls the incident the "talk of the town" over the weekend, notes that residents weren't just shaken by the screeching tires and smoke, but also from the fistfights that broke out. One resident tells the Miami Herald she thought someone was shooting a movie, while another local wondered if it was a terrorist attack.

"[That was my] first impression," he tells WPLG. Gridlock that resulted from the stunt may have also hampered police from getting there more quickly; cops say they got there within eight minutes. A rep from the Miami Beach Police Department said police got the call about the commotion at 11:52pm, and once on the scene, they went after the suspects, whom they believed were possibly armed. "The subjects were ultimately apprehended, arrested, and charged with several felonies related to narcotics," Ernesto Rodriguez tweeted the next day. More than a dozen arrests were made. Rodriguez added the participants were apparently part of a "car club" that pull off such "reckless" stunts throughout Miami-Dade County. NBC notes police think they've found an Instagram account hosted by the group that features videos showing similar antics. (More weird crimes stories.)

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