Illegal car rallies held across 3 neighborhoods

By Kim Dacey

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    WOODLAWN, Maryland (WBAL) — Baltimore County police are investigating reports of as many as three unauthorized car rallies overnight in Woodlawn, Owings Mills and Halethorpe.

People came out of their homes when they heard the sounds.

“First, I wasn’t sure what was going on, just the loud backfiring from the cars, but then, it just kept going and going,” said Mackenzie Harwood, of Woodlawn.

“We just heard a lot of, ‘Pop, pop, pop, pop,’ and I said to my daughter, ‘Did you hear the gunshots?’ She said, ‘No, ma, I think it’s firecrackers,” Sabrina Grinnage said.

Police confirmed one rally took place around 11:30 p.m. Saturday at Ingleside Avenue at Security Boulevard in Woodlawn.

Video posted on TikTok showed smoke rising from the cars as drivers drove in donuts in the intersection, jamming traffic in all directions.

Onlookers said it looked almost choreographed, even ending with fireworks.

“They were just doing circles, and when one car left, another car would come in and start going, and then, sometimes, it would be two cars spinning around, but it was smoke, like, crazy, and people came out of their cars because traffic stopped on all sides of the intersection like four ways,” Harwood said.

Police said another car rally took place around 12:10 a.m. Sunday on Millrun Circle in Owings Mills. Again, police arrived and the drivers and crowd dispersed.

Then, cars took over Commerce Drive in Halethorpe around 2:30 a.m.

“Our detectives are currently looking through social media accounts to see if, necessarily, this is one solo group or if this is a collective thing individuals are partaking in,” Baltimore County police Detective Trae Corbin said.

Corbin said this is a problem across the region, and they’re working with other agencies to stop it. They said these rallies snarl traffic and are loud, dangerous and illegal.

“Not only the fact that they’re a nuisance, they’re unsafe. There are multiple traffic infractions that just participating in these events, and even spectators can be charged as well,” Corbin said.

Police said there were no arrests at any of the locations. Anyone with information, or who sees one of these rallies, is asked to call police.

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