Many people in the Philadelphia region received an emergency alert Sunday night for a dispersal order stemming from a gathering at Bridgeport Speedway in South Jersey. 

The Bridgeport Speedway is located in Logan Township, Gloucester County, which is a little more than 20 miles from Philadelphia. 

On Facebook, the Harrison Township Police Department in Mullica Hill wrote: “We are aware that many residents just received the alert regarding a dispersal notice on their phones. This is related to an incident that was at the Bridgeport Speedway earlier this afternoon and has no bearing on anything in Harrison Township at this time.”

But it wasn’t just people in South Jersey who received the alert on their phones. 

Across the Delaware River, the Middletown Township Department of Public Safety in Delaware County said in a Facebook post that several residents received the alert. 

According to the Logan Township Police Department, at around 10:55 a.m. Sunday, officers responded to reports of several complaints of vehicles speeding, passing unsafely, racing, and passengers riding on vehicles in the area of the Bridgeport Motorsports Park.

Police said they later learned an unpermitted event named “Import Expo” was taking place at the motorsports park. According to police, there was no prior notice nor approval of the event. 

Police said the area became inundated with motorists from as far away as Massachusetts and Virginia, and the park quickly exceded its capacity. That’s when police say about 25,000 people parked wherever they could and began walking to the venue.

Police said there were also reports of public intoxication, public urination, lewdness, disorderly conduct, littering and numerous fights.

Logan Township police requested mutual aid and an emergency alert message was sent out with the assistance of the Gloucester County Office of Emergency Management advising individuals in the area to disperse. The dispersal order was lifted around 6:44 p.m. 

A man was taken into custody and charged with disorderly conduct. Police said several municipal ordinance violations will also be filed.    

On Monday, the Bridgeport Speedway posted an apology for the disruption the event caused. 

“I do not like to make excuses, and I do not want this to sound like an excuse. I would like to express to our Neighbors once we realized this was not what we expected as a facility, we, along with authorities diligently began to dissolve the event without causing things to escalate,” the Facebook post read. “This post is to APOLOGIZE and promise we will be better at what we do because of this. I want to thank everyone at Logan Township for their help with this matter. They were great to work with as they always are and very helpful in helping us resolve the already bad situation without making it any worse.”

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