RICHMOND, Va. — Shocking videos of a street takeover in Richmond's West End have prompted residents to demand answers about why police did not intervene more aggressively.
The videos, recorded early Sunday morning, show crowds of people gathered at the intersection of Libbie and Patterson avenues watching cars do donuts in the middle of the road. Countless people who live in the area reached out to CBS 6, expressing concern about the apparent lack of a police response.
"I didn't see the police doing anything — that was kind of disturbing," Darin Williams said. "I'd like to know what they were doing and if they were taking license numbers and videoing what was going on, what exactly they were doing, why they were allowing this to continue."
Another resident described what she observed.
"They were parked further away and well enough away; it appeared that they weren't getting out of their cars," the resident said.
In an exclusive one-on-one interview with CBS 6 investigative reporter Melissa Hipolit, Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards acknowledged that his department was caught off guard.
"We've been successful in the past. Unfortunately, into Sunday morning, we were not prepared," Edwards said. "And in order to be successful, you have to have a plan, you'd have to be prepared. But unfortunately, we weren't notified of this and didn't realize it was coming to our city."
The chief explained that in past incidents, Richmond Police were tipped off about street takeover plans in advance, allowing for a coordinated response with other police agencies and even an air unit. That did not happen this time.
"We never have an effective response when it's just out of the blue and two or three officers show up for a crowd of hundreds of people," Edwards said.
UNCUT VIDEO: Street takeover in Richmond's West End
When asked what advice he gives officers responding to a large, dangerous crowd without advanced warning, Edwards emphasized caution.
"What I have to say is that we have to be very careful. We wouldn't be having this conversation if an officer had rushed in there and been hit by one of these cars. We've had citizens struck by these cars in the past, so we have to be very cautious when we intervene with them," Edwards said.
Despite the challenges, Edwards said Richmond police did make one arrest, and the investigation remains ongoing. He is asking the public to submit any video footage they may have.
"We're continuing to take those videos and try to look for those tags. We're utilizing our technology and hopefully we can charge additional people," Edwards said. "So I would encourage our community, if you have video, please continue to send it to us. We're going to follow up on it, and if we can charge more people than we already have, we'd love to."
The chief also addressed how the department plans to prevent future takeovers.
"Not letting them have the success they had this weekend, so we're going to be prepared. We have our real-time crime center that's going to flag this, so they're continuing to work on this. If we can identify people, we're going to arrest them," Edwards said.
Richmond Police say the people involved were operating in a dangerous manner at multiple locations throughout the city. If you have any information related to the incident, call Crime Stoppers at 804-780-1000.
This is a developing story. Email the CBS 6 Newsroom if you have additional information to share.
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