Abbott creates task force to combat 'street takeovers' after incidents in Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Dallas

After a wave of "street takeovers" in Austin over the weekend that left one officer injured, Gov. Greg Abbott announced on Thursday the formation of a statewide street takeover task force.

Housed in the Texas Department of Public Safety, the new task force is charged with conducting statewide investigations into the "organized crime aspect" of street takeovers — which involve crowds and vehicles blocking street intersections and drivers doing doughnuts on the road — along with seizing assets, such as vehicles and weapons, and making arrests.

The announcement comes after four "sideshow" incidents across Austin overnight Saturday into early Sunday as well as recent similar street takeovers in Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.

"We must send a clear message that these reckless, coordinated criminal events will not be tolerated in Texas," Abbott said in a statement Thursday. "This statewide task force will work closely with local officials and law enforcement to investigate, prosecute, and prevent these dangerous street takeovers. Working together, we can ensure Texans in communities large and small remain safe."

In January, Grapevine and Dallas officers arrested 22-year-old Juan Carlos Rodriguez in connection to a New Year's Eve street takeover near the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. In San Antonio, a takeover last month resulted in gunshots and a four-vehicle accident near Interstate 10. Police did not announce any arrests at the time, saying that no witnesses stayed to help with the investigation as officers arrived.

So far, police have made seven arrests related to the street incidents in North, South and East Austin over the weekend.

“These street takeovers put the lives of Texans and Texas law enforcement officers at risk,” said DPS Director Steven McCraw in the statement. “We are seeing fireworks fired at officers in crowds, lasers pointed at aircraft, drivers driving upwards of 130 miles per hour with no lights on in the dark of night — all of it is reckless, and it needs to be stopped.”

The task force includes members of the DPS Criminal Investigations Division, Texas Highway Patrol, Aviation Operations Division, and Intelligence and Counterterrorism Division, which will work alongside local police.

In 2021, the Legislature boosted the penalty for "engaging in a reckless driving exhibition" from a Class B misdemeanor to Class A, and felony charges are also possible.

Austin street takeovers response, 911 backlogs

On Tuesday, Austin Police Chief Joe Chacon held a news conference to address his officers' response to the street takeovers that saw hostile crowds shooting fireworks at police vehicles, shattering car windows and injuring one officer, who was taken to and later released from the hospital.

A 911 call describing vehicles blocking the intersection of South Lamar Boulevard and Barton Springs Road in South Austin and doing doughnuts first came in at 9:01 p.m. Saturday.

A patrol vehicle responded to the first takeover-related call at 9:23 p.m., which had a crowd of hundreds of people breaking up about 20 minutes later when a total of 41 patrol units had arrived, Chacon said.

There were 266 calls to 911 between 9 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Saturday, compared with 65 calls during that same half-hour the week before, he said. Due to staffing shortages at Austin's Emergency Communications Center, only 12 call takers were working instead of the standard 16 operators.

More:Chaotic Austin 'street racing incidents' Saturday night fuel local policing discourse

Additionally, Austin City Council Member Alison Alter, who unknowingly found herself in one of the street takeovers, called 911 to report what was happening at Barton Springs Road and South Lamar Boulevard and waited on hold for 28 minutes, she said Sunday.

Alter, who has worked over the last 18 months to increase the number of 911 operators, has since taken up the call taker shortage with interim City Manager Jesús Garza, who started working in his temporary position just over a week ago.

"This is obviously unacceptable," Chacon said Tuesday. "We have made strides and been getting more applications, … but it takes time to hire them and train them."

More:Austin 911 in crisis due to call taker shortage, long wait times

Calls to the Police Department began ringing again at 10:27 p.m. Saturday as reports of another street takeover at Interstate 35 and East Anderson Lane were being fielded, and officers arrived to disperse the crowd shortly after.

A third incident was reported at 12:52 a.m. Sunday at Berkman Drive and Barbara Jordan Boulevard in East Austin. Officers arrived at 12:58 a.m. and had dispersed the crowd by 1:07 a.m., Chacon said.

The fourth street takeover happened around 1:35 am. Sunday when multiple 911 callers said a fire had started at Metric Boulevard and Braker Lane in North Austin. When police arrived, the crowd smashed patrol car windows, ripped equipment off of the cars and threw rocks and bottles at officers, Chacon said. One officer was injured and taken to a hospital, where he was treated and released, Chacon said.

Prior to the first street takeover Saturday, Chacon said his department had received a "vague" tip from San Antonio police about the possibility of takeovers in Austin on Saturday.

Chacon said Austin police were unable to act on the tip due to a lack of details.

More:Officials: 7 arrested in weekend 'street takeovers'; Austin police say 'vague' tip unhelpful

"There was no information about who was involved or where it would take place or what time," he said. "The tip was passed to patrol, but due to the vague nature of the tip, not much could be done to staff up or deploy."

Austin police have arrested Lewis Uris Martinez, 31; Joseph Springs, 41; Brian Serrano Benitez, 19; Ali Nouredenne, 19; Riley Wright, 19; and Stefan Regalado, 17, in relation to the street takeovers. No hometowns were listed for any of the six.

The DPS arrested 22-year-old Jerry Antonio Gore in connection to one of the events. According to an arrest affidavit, troopers found a loaded firearm and a short-barrel rifle in Gore's vehicle, and he was charged with evading arrest and theft of a firearm.

He told officials he was "only in town for the street takeover event and was visiting from Dallas where he currently lived," according to the affidavit.

Additional arrests are expected, and the department stands ready to handle street takeovers in the future, Chacon said Tuesday.

"Our officers will be there, we’ll be ready, the plans are in place to disrupt this type of activity," he said.

In September 2020, Austin police arrested 22 people and impounded 25 cars in connection with illegal street racing at a movie theater parking lot in North Austin as underground car meetups surged amid pandemic.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas creates task force to combat street takeovers after many events