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72 cars towed from LA riverbed
Los Angeles police impounded 72 vehicles and issued trespassing citations after responding to a car meetup inside the Los Angeles River near Cypress Park.
Some drivers caught up in a weekend car meetup inside the Los Angeles River say police went too far after officers impounded 72 vehicles and issued multiple trespassing tickets near Cypress Park.
The Los Angeles Police Department said its street racing task force responded around 6:30 p.m. Sunday to the 400 block of North San Fernando Road, where drivers had gathered inside the river channel.
Police have confirmed the trespassing citations and impounds. The department has not said the gathering was an active street race.
Drivers who spoke with FOX 11 said they believed they were attending a photo shoot for the Los Angeles car community, not a street takeover.
Alexander Pimienta, whose motorcycle was impounded, said the event was advertised online as a photo shoot with the Los Angeles skyline as the backdrop.
"They have like some signs, supposedly for trespassing. It’s like the size of a piece of paper, not really made up or anything like that," Pimienta said. "We went down there, no bad intentions, took some photos, that’s it."
Pimienta said some people at the gathering started doing burnouts, but he said those drivers left before police moved in.
"They’re messing around, being dumb, being idiots and all that," Pimienta said. "But hey, everyone’s having fun, but they left and they got the cops called on us."
Angel Rodriguez, whose Ford Mustang was impounded, said he had just arrived when the gathering began to change.
"I guess some cars started going crazy for some reason," Rodriguez said. "It was just supposed to be pictures. Yeah. So that’s what I was here for, just for pictures."
Some drivers said they did not realize the river channel was off limits. They said the impounds are creating a financial burden that goes beyond a trespassing ticket.
"Some people are getting their cars held for 30 days. That’s around $3,000 to get them out," Pimienta said. "And we’re all getting cited with trespassing."
LAPD has not said whether any of the impounded vehicles will be held for 30 days.
Rodriguez said a citation would have been enough.
"I think it was probably a little too much to impound everyone," he said. "Maybe a ticket would have been just fine for trespassing, because none of us knew it was a trespass."
He said if the city does not want cars going into the river channel, officials should make the entrance harder to access.
"It’s better to have a barrier so no one could enter, so it doesn’t happen again for other people," Rodriguez said. "But it’s a nice view to take pictures."