more info posted on H-T by 96ls: like I said, wasn’t so innocent.
http://www.ydr.com/newsfull/ci_7256613
Sweep in lot nets 210
Police: A weekly parking-lot gathering constitutes trespassing and encourages drag racing.
By MIKE HOOVER
Daily Record/Sunday News
Article Last Updated: 10/23/2007 09:47:42 AM EDT
At bottom: · AT A GLANCE
Oct 23, 2007 — As York City Police Officer William Wentz watched over a crowd of people in the Northwest Plaza shopping center Saturday night, he saw one police car chase a dragster down Route 30.
The dragster got away - and is an example of why police cracked down.
“The people we were arresting were cheering as (the dragster) was in police pursuit,” said Wentz, the city’s nuisance abatement officer.
For more than a year, police have fielded complaints from drivers, businesses and people who live in the Colony Park and Fireside areas about loud crowds of people with their cars hanging out after-hours at the shopping center on Route 30 in York, Wentz said.
Despite posted “No Trespassing signs, crowds in the parking lot at Northwest Plaza in the 900 block of Loucks Road sometime swell to 300 people, officials said.
Racers are so bold that they use other drivers to stop traffic on heavily traveled Route 30 so dragsters can race between Fairlane Road and Roosevelt Avenue at speeds of more than 70 mph, Wentz said.
A few weeks
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ago, the crowds started throwing fireworks, he said.
When officers on patrol respond to the complaints, they find themselves outnumbered and ignored, Wentz said.
Saturday, 40 officers from five agencies arrested 210 people in the parking lot on trespassing charges.
About 20 police officers arrived in five unmarked vans in a “Trojan horse” surprise approach. Several marked police cars blocked the entrances.
“There was a massive wave of people trying to run to their cars. Everyone was panicking trying to find a way out,” Wentz said.
Police made them sit down and empty out their pockets before they were shuttled to the Lincoln Fire Station to be cited.
More than three dozen vehicles were towed from the private property by a towing firm that property owners hired.
The racing has attracted people from all over Pennsylvania and Maryland, mainly young adults, Wentz said. The attraction was posted on the Internet as a place to street race and meet people, he said.
Wentz said the crackdown will curb the racing for a while. For the next time, he plans to have a portable toilet to be used by the crowds, which took more than four hours to transport and process, he said.
“This lesson will eventually wear off. I think they will be back,” Wentz said.
Some of those arrested have complained they were just looking at the cars, York City Police Commissioner Mark Whitman said.
Charles Lauver of Columbia was one of them.
After having dinner at Old Country Buffet, the car enthusiast went outside, where he stopped to look at the cars.
“It looked like a function was going on, like the cars were supposed to be there,” Lauver said.
Now, the 30-year-old faces more trouble because Saturday’s citation is possibly a violation of his parole.
“I don’t frequent that place. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Lauver said.
But the city’s police commissioner said those in the parking were trespassing on private property that was legally posted by the owner.
Springettsbury Township Police participated in the crackdown to send a message: that speeding and drag racing cannot be tolerated, township police Lt. Scott Laird said.
“We cannot allow innocent people to be put at risk. They are racing on a public highway,” he said.
Staff writer Michele Canty contributed to this report.
AT A GLANCE
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
The sweep: 9 p.m. Saturday to 5 a.m. Sunday
Where: 900 block of Loucks Road, Northeast Shopping Center parking lot
Officers involved: 40
Number of citations: 210
Number of cars towed: More than three dozen
Those with children: 39 (They were cited at the lot and released.)
The agencies involved: York City Police, West Manchester Township Police, Springettsbury Township Police, York County Sheriff’s Office and York County Detectives
More charges? As police review the footage of surveillance video from the past month, others might be charged, Police Commissioner Mark Whitman said.
The videos show trespassing, noise, squealing tires, loud radios, speeding and racing, Whitman said.
Those found speeding on the highway face more serious charges, such as reckless driving or reckless endangerment, he said.
Whitman warns of future crackdowns and said police will not turn a blind eye to lawlessness.
“I’m sure they will think this is one and done. But we’re not finished,” he said.