This story has been updated with new information.
Cincinnati police arrested 39 people and towed more than 50 cars as drivers meandered around the city donuting, drag racing and blocking traffic.
According to arrest documents, police stopped approximately 100 drivers at multiple locations across the city on the night of Saturday, March 14, and into the early hours of Sunday morning.
The drivers were participating in a planned street takeover, the department said in a news release. It’s a growing national trend that Cincinnati is no stranger to, with drivers performing stunts and competitions while illegally blocking traffic.
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Police learned the group of drivers were traveling along Interstate 75 to attend an event in Cincinnati that evening, the release said. Arrest documents show several of the arrested drivers were from suburban Dayton and Columbus. One woman arrested told police her friends invited her to a “car show” in the city.
Police first spotted the group on Interstate 75 near Paddock Road in Carthage around 10:30 p.m.
Two Cincinnati men held a stop sign in the middle of the intersection near a freeway off-ramp, blocking traffic, police said. Police said one of the men, 18-year-old Terry Clark, was carrying a stolen gun. Several other drivers fled the area.
The group then drove from Kellogg Avenue toward the border of East End and Lynwood, police said. Drivers tried unsuccessfully to once again occupy the parking lot of the Riverfront Live concert venue, where nine people were shot to death earlier this month.
“Following timely intelligence, officers proactively deployed to the area and successfully disrupted the activity,” police said in a news release.
Driver evades police before rally at Woodward High School
Shortly after midnight, police were informed that the group had moved toward the Clifton area before meeting in the parking lot of Woodward High School in Bond Hill.
In the parking lot, police saw drivers performing stunt driving, racing cars and making donuts, arrest documents said.
Around 1 a.m., several police officers, some from other agencies, descended on the school and began making arrests
Police deployed stop sticks in the parking lot and slashed the tires of an 18-year-old man’s car as he tried to escape, arrest documents show.
A South Carolina sheriff’s deputy holds a brake stick, a tire deflation device. Cincinnati police deployed stop sticks during a street takeover at Woodward High School early Sunday morning.
Police stopped a 20-year-old man in London’s West End earlier that night and warned him to leave the area, but that did not stop him, arrest documents show. Police said the man street raced in high school. He was arrested and his red Ford Mustang towed.
Police arrested the driver and passenger for “participating in” the activity, according to arrest documents.
Dozens charged with street racing
Cincinnati police arrested a total of 39 people and towed 65 vehicles during street takeovers, according to a news release.
Almost all of the 39 people were charged with misdemeanor street racing, arrest documents show. Police have required bail of about $2,000 for most detainees.
Similar street takeovers, or “sideshows,” have occurred in other parts of the country for decades.
Milwaukee’s 2025 street takeovers involve drivers setting off fireworks, squealing tires and making donuts.
San Francisco radio station KQED published a history of the trend that began in Oakland in the mid-1980s. The takeover activity started as quieter cruise activity, but even then the city tried to crack down on it, the report said. As time went on, the incident became more intense.
Cincinnati police have acted before during street takeovers, but mass arrests like this weekend’s are unheard of in recent years.
Last summer, police impounded multiple cars as they took over downtown streets. Some drivers were cited for not having license plates on their cars. No arrests were announced.
Inquirer reporter Cameron Knight contributed.
This article originally appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati police arrest dozens, tow cars to stop street takeover