Police break up car meetup in Kensington, Northeast Philadelphia – NBC10 Philadelphia

Police in Philadelphia made multiple arrests, issued citations and are still investigating after hundreds gathered for car meets in the city on Sunday evening, officials said.

According to Philadelphia Police Inspector DF Pace, police monitoring social media learned that on Sunday, December 1, 2024, at approximately 10:45 p.m., along the 10000 block of Sandmeyer Lane, near the intersection with Red Lion Road, a car meet took place in Northeast Philadelphia.

He said officers actually encountered spectators watching the meeting online via livestream and converged on the site.

Here, Pace said, officers “stopped some of them and issued citations when necessary, took people into custody when necessary, and impounded vehicles when necessary.”

When some vehicles fled, officers also deployed police aviation units to track down these drivers, he said.

“We are committed to mercilessly pursuing anyone who seeks to operate a vehicle in a manner that endangers the community,” Pace said. “And that’s an example of what we’re going to do when we find out there are car meets like this out there.”

That same evening, Pace also said officers responded to the intersection of Kensington and Lehigh avenues where another illegal car meet occurred.

During that incident, Pace said, police determined that “approximately 200 spectators” had gathered.

Here, Pace said “a number of people” had been taken into police custody and summonses had also been issued against those involved.

When speaking to NBC10, Pace said he wasn’t sure how many people were arrested or taken into custody, but said law enforcement officials would be reviewing footage posted on social media Sunday to determine if there were any incidents following those meetings further arrests or charges could occur.

“We may issue additional citations to take additional cars into custody, or possibly even file charges against other individuals who may have attended these various car meets throughout the city this evening,” Pace said.

Because future arrests are possible at these meetings, police officials said they are still searching for one of the organizers after a series of chaotic car meetings in September.

Just last week, law enforcement officials announced a tenth arrest related to these illegal car meets.