Police in Secaucus, N.J., were swarmed early Sunday by at least 50 people who surrounded their vehicles and lobbed fireworks as officers tried to break up a street-racing pop-up that clogged a busy intersection.
Cops arrived at Secaucus Road and County Avenue at 2:31 a.m. after a report that more than 100 vehicles “took over” the intersection and were “driving recklessly and doing donuts while onlookers took videos of them,” the Secaucus Police Department said in a statement.
As soon as they arrived, the cops were crushed by people clambering onto and damaging their marked vehicles, the department said in a statement accompanied by video. “People in the crowd then used fireworks as incendiary devices by shooting them at and under the marked police vehicles.”
The street-racing scene was straight out of a “war zone” as participants hung out of car windows and cars continued doing donuts and other stunts, Secaucus Police Chief Dennis Miller told News12 New Jersey. More than 12 hours later, tire tracks from burnouts and donuts streaked the roadway, News12 noted.
Video of the melee showed up on social media, some posted by police and others capturing the moment independently.
It took Mutual Aid from Weehawken, North Bergen, Hoboken, the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office, East Rutherford and Rutherford to disperse the unruly crowd, police said. The department called the officers’ restraint “nothing short of commendable” in expressing gratitude that no officers had been hurt.
“Their decision-making of not to exit their vehicles to engage a crowd that outnumbered them probably in the vicinity of 50-to-1 is good decision-making on their part,” Secaucus Police Chief Dennis Miller told News12. “This lawlessness will not be tolerated in Secaucus.”
The department posted footage of the melee hoping members of the public could furnish information or identify some of the perpetrators, urging anyone with intel to call a tipline. Police did not speculate on a possible motive but did underscore the seriousness of the assault.
‘“Our officers came under attack last night, and I will not tolerate this unrest,” Chief Dennis Miller said in the department’s statement. “I will be dedicating resources from our Traffic Bureau, Detective Division, Patrol Division and Intelligence Section to assemble a Task Force to identify the individuals responsible for this riotous behavior and bring them to justice. Secaucus is not going to be the place where these criminals operate with impunity!”
An angry Secaucus Mayor Mike Gonnelli vowed the same.
“They will make arrests on this,” he told Patch.com. “Stay out of Secaucus. We’re going to get you. You’re going to be arrested.”
