JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Red and blue flashing lights filled the Roses Discount Store parking lot Saturday night.
Witnesses said the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office swarmed the store parking lot off Lem Turner Road on the north side during a car meet-up.
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“All of a sudden there were cops at every exit and people were trying to drive over curbs to get out and they would block that. They had FHP, JSO and state troopers out there,” an anonymous witness told News4JAX.
News4JAX got a video that shows JSO officers pulling a man out of a car, pushing him onto the ground and placing him in handcuffs. It was not immediately clear why he was being detained or if the man was charged with a crime.
“There was a group of parked cars and then this guy pulls in and parks his Mustang like near us and then the cops ran over with their guns drawn to the window and then we went over there and they opened his car door and made him come out and the entire time he was being very respectful,” said the witness.
JSO, which was not available to comment on the videos, recently announced cracking down on illegal street takeovers.
For the past several months, the News4JAX I-Team has followed reports of noise complaints, damaged parking lots, crashes and traffic build-ups from the street takeovers.
Last week, JSO announced four people were arrested for actively racing on roadways in the Southside area.
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Car club members have previously told News4JAX that meet-ups are a lifestyle and they would like to have a place to legally perform street stunts.
“They’re just trying to have a good time. I strongly believe there is common ground in the situation,” said the witness.
At this time, JSO has not announced any arrests in connection to the car club meet-up at Roses.