Gov. Greg Abbott Launches Task Force to Tackle Texas Street Takeovers

Viral video footage out of Austin this weekend shows people crowding around a police squad car, shooting it with fireworks and forcing it to retreat as officers responded to an intersection that had been shut down by stunt drivers. Other videos show cars drifting and doing doughnuts in the middle of the intersection. Some spectators appeared to have been lit on fire as a result of one of the stunts.

The scenes portrayed on Feb. 18 in Austin likely looked familiar to people in Dallas, where street takeovers would occur nearly every weekend, especially during the pandemic. All of the videos coming out of Austin have drawn criticism from conservative lawmakers complaining about the supposed lawlessness of the liberal city.

“Many thoughts about this maddening lawlessness in Austin last night,” state Rep. Jeff Leach, a Republican in Plano, wrote in a post on Twitter. “But more than anything: God bless our brave men and women in blue! Especially those working in cities where they’re undervalued, underpaid and under attack, like in Austin.”

U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, an Austin Republican representing the state’s 21st congressional district, wrote in a Twitter post about the takeover, “Austin heading down dangerous road… I apologize to the APD officers who have to put up with this crap, only to have city leaders play games with your contract #StandUpForAmerica.”

But now the outrage has resulted in more than just posts on social media.

On Thursday, Gov. Greg Abbott announced in a press release that he was launching a statewide street takeover task force to crack down on the stunt drivers. “Despite the foolish attempts by some local officials to defund and demoralize our brave law enforcement officers, Texas is and remains a law-and-order state,” Abbott said, according to the press release. “We must send a clear message that these reckless, coordinated criminal events will not be tolerated in Texas.”

“We must send a clear message that these reckless, coordinated criminal events will not be tolerated in Texas.” – Gov. Greg Abbott

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He said the task force, which will be led by the Department of Public Safety, will work with local officials and law enforcement agencies to investigate, prosecute and prevent street takeovers. “Working together, we can ensure Texans in communities large and small remain safe,” Abbott said.

DPS Director Steven McCraw said in the press release that the takeovers put people’s lives in danger. “We are seeing fireworks fired at officers in crowds, lasers pointed at aircraft, drivers driving upwards of 130 miles per hour with no lights on in the dark of night — all of it is reckless, and it needs to be stopped,” McCraw said.

During a press conference this week, Austin police Chief Joseph Chacon said one officer sustained non-life-threatening injuries while responding to the street takeovers over the weekend. Two people were arrested on the night of the takeover, Chacon said, and several others have been arrested since. Those arrested so far are being held on eight felony charges and one misdemeanor charge. DPS has also made one arrest in relation to the street takeovers.

The Dallas Morning News reported on Thursday that DPS arrested a 22-year-old Arlington man for his part in the Austin street takeovers this weekend. Jerry Antonio Gore, 22, was arrested in Austin on Saturday on charges of evading arrest, obstructing a highway, firearm theft and unlawful carrying of a weapon, according to The News.

Chacon said the department received a tip from the San Antonio Police Department about the potential for a street takeover. However, the Austin Police Department didn’t have enough information to prepare, Chacon said. “The tip was passed to patrol, but due to the vague nature of the tip there was not much that could be done to staff up or to deploy prior to the event occurrence,” Chacon said.

He said investigations would continue and more charges would likely be filed related to the Austin street takeovers last weekend.

Kristin Lowman, a spokesperson for the Dallas Police Department, told the Observer by email that street takeover events still happen on a weekly basis in DFW, “though few are of the magnitude observed in Austin last weekend.” Most of these events take place outside of the city of Dallas in surrounding suburbs, she said.

These kinds of events have happened in Dallas through the years. But when they started occurring more frequently in 2018, Lowman said, DPD formed the Street Racing Task Force in its Southwest Division. It was soon expanded to the South Central Patrol Division. Then, when street takeovers picked up even more in 2020 in Dallas and across the country during the pandemic, the task force was expanded to the whole city.

The task force is made up of officers who enforce state traffic laws and city ordinances pertaining to racing and street takeover activity. The same year the task force was expanded, the Dallas City Council passed an ordinance that bans spectators at these events. If you’re caught watching one of these events, you could get slapped with a fine of up to $500 under the ordinance.