Drag racing car bursts into flames in backyard crash
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Drag racing is causing chaos in a Southeast Memphis neighborhood, and this time it ended with a crash and a backyard on fire.
Police say Sunday afternoon — in broad daylight — a gray Sedan ran through a fence and burst into flames on Belsfield Cove. Two females and two males got out and ran away.
Video footage shows flames reaching up the trees, burning through the wood fence in the backyard.
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Neighbors say that the car had been drag racing when it crashed and went up in flames.
One neighbor says she was walking her dog Sunday around 3 when she noticed the air was hazy. It wasn’t until she got closer to Belsfield Cove that she said she saw heavy flames coming from a backyard.
That’s where she says she saw a car that had hit the back fence on the Knight Arnold side and burst into flames.
“I heard a crash and I thought, ‘Oh my god, they finally hit the fence’,” she said. “It’s a very helpless feeling because obviously I couldn’t really do anything to put it out, and I just had to kind of watch it burn until the fire department came.”
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She says drag racing has been an issue here since the pandemic started and it was only a matter of time until this happened.
“You can hear them and you can smell the rubber burning at my house if I sit outside, I can smell it. So yeah, it’s a big concern. I wish it would be addressed more or stopped,” said Ellen Hemingson, another neighbor.
Neighbors tell us they’ve reached out to the city about installing speed bumps but haven’t heard back.
“A lot of people walk their dogs over there, a lot of kids play ball and stuff over there, it’s just really lucky that there were no kids in my backyard,” she said.
We reached out to the city for a response. They said the last time they looked into it, the stretch of road did not meet the criteria for speed bumps.
Residents who are still concerned are encouraged to submit another request by calling 311.
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