CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Division of Police (CDP) confirm seven locations across the city were taken over by reckless drivers on Saturday.
In one of those locations, the I-90 Innerbelt Bridge, police say suspects shot fireworks off the freeway, attempted to light fires, and pointed airsoft guns at officers and drivers.
“I'm frustrated about it. I know the Chief's frustrated about it, and I would encourage every resident in our city, any tourists visiting our city, if they see something like this, please call 911,” said Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb.
In an exclusive sit-down interview with 3News, Bibb explained some of the measures the city is taking to curb reckless driving incidents.
“We're doing some different things as we speak to address this long term,” said Bibb. “First, we are establishing a brand new task force, with our detectives across all five police districts, our gang impact unit, University Circle Police and other state and federal partners, to get more aggressive, to hold these reckless criminals accountable for these street takeovers.”
Bibb’s next step involves altering Cleveland roads.
“We've already been working over the last month, with public works around more traffic calming enforcement measures, to prevent this activity,” said Bibb. “Everything from street milling in these high frequency, traffic corridors where these takeovers are occurring, as well as deploying rubber pellets on the ground as well to deter that kind of criminal activity.”
Bibb says the city will “beef up prosecutorial enforcement” once CDP identifies the individuals responsible. He says legislative action must be taken too.
“We’re going to be examining beefing up state laws, and I'll be talking to members of our delegation and the governor about additional support so cities like Cleveland across the state can get to really hold these actors, these dangerous actors, accountable,” said Bibb.
On Monday afternoon, Bibb posted the following message to Cleveland residents on social media.
According to Cleveland Division of Police Sergeant Wilfredo Diaz, officers issued citations and made multiple arrests Saturday, but they’re still working to identify the level of those individuals’ involvement and how they should proceed.