Police will have more officers on site and focus on arresting and ticketing people at an unorganized event surrounding the Atlantic Nationals should it take place again next year, RCMP say.
Supt. Benoit Jolette told Moncton city council at a meeting Monday that a dangerous driving incident that led to arrests on the weekend was on the cusp of becoming out of control.
“We will not be tolerating that next year … we will come in force,” said. “Obviously the measured approach did not work.”
Police arrested some members of a large crowd that gathered Saturday along Mountain Road in Moncton to watch stunt driving after a popular car show in the city.
Black marks left on the pavement and videos posted to social media point to multiple vehicles performing stunts known as burnouts near a crowd lining the street.
Police responded to several calls on the weekend about a gathering on Mountain Road, Cpl. Luc Picard of the Codiac Regional RCMP said in an email.
A “small number” of people were arrested, said Picard, who would not elaborate on how many.
The gathering took place the same weekend as a popular annual car show called Atlantic Nationals.
A screenshot from another video showed a heavy police presence in the crowd in the Lawtons Drugs parking lot near the Mountain and Mapleton roads intersection. (parthdodiya02/Instagram)
Several police cars can be seen in the videos with flashing lights on, and officers trying to control the crowd.
Other videos show crowds gathered near the Mountain Road sidewalk, watching as several cars pass doing burnouts, leaving smoke in the street.
Officers performed “traffic safety enforcement and responded to concerns regarding dangerous driving behaviour and public disturbances,” Picard wrote in French in his email.
One video, posted Sunday by a user named parthdodiya02 shows police officers trying to contain people gathered around them. Three of the officers pin two people to the ground, face down, and handcuff them both.
WATCH | RCMP makes arrests for dangerous driving after Moncton car show:
RCMP arrested people for dangerous driving after Moncton car show
The large crowd that gathered on Mountain Road after the Atlantic Nationals car show was not related to the event, organizers say.
Several people can be heard shouting at police and seen filming them. In a second video posted by the same user, the crowd can be heard chanting, “F–k the police.”
Police said they responded to 57 violations of the New Brunswick Motor Vehicle Act but did not elaborate on what action was taken.
Police will show up ‘in force’ next year
During his update to Moncton council during a meeting Monday evening, RCMP Supt. Benoit Jolette said the problems happen in “non-organized activities” of this nature.
Police take a measured approach, but that won’t be the case next year.
“We will not be tolerating that next year … we will come in force,” Jolette said. “Obviously, the measured approach did not work.”
He said next year will bring more officers, and a greater focus on arresting people and handing out tickets.
“If we need to tow 50 cars, 100 cars, we will.”
Someone in attendance Saturday night was almost run over, he said.
Another video posted to social media showed one of several cars that did burnouts, leaving smoke in the air on Mapleton Road on Saturday evening. (parthdodiya02/Instagram)
Coun. Kate Doyle told Jolette the issue on Mountain Road seems to be getting worse each year, and she did not think the RCMP’s plan worked.
“This can’t happen again,” she said. “It was incredibly troubling to watch.”
Jolette replied that police have noted the dates for next year’s Atlantic Nationals weekend, and have begun planning for it.
RCMP had extra officers set aside for the area on Saturday but Jolette said they still did not have enough officers to deal with the crowd.
“It will not happen again,” he told councillors.
Jolette told reporters at the meeting that there were no further updates on the number of arrests or violations.
Organizers ‘shocked’
The Atlantic Nationals is a five-day car show that brings thousands of car enthusiasts to Moncton each year. It wrapped up Sunday, a day after the arrests were made.
Organizer Bill Doherty said the event does not condone stunts or any other dangerous driving.
“They don’t realize how fast bad things happen and someone gets hurt or worse, killed,” he said.
He said tires can easily blow or axels can come loose when burnouts are performed.
The car show used to host a cruise down Mountain Road for participants, Doherty said, but this is no longer an official part of Atlantic Nationals.
He said people have continued to gather there on their own, however.
In speaking with participants who were at other events on Sunday, Doherty said he found most people there said they had not taken part in the incident Saturday night.
“I’m tired, today, about the shenanigans put on by a few people for the most part that were not in any way involved with our event,” he said Monday.
Scheduled events took place on Main Street and at the Avenir Centre and Moncton Coliseum, among other places. The event website does not note any activities, including late-night events, on Mountain Road.
Melissa Hachey, manager of communications for the City of Moncton, said in an email that safety is the city’s top priority, and the incident did not occur on the official event grounds.
The Atlantic Nationals is a long-standing event in the area, and the city works closely with organizers to ensure it’s delivered safely and responsibly, she said.
Tire marks could be seen Monday morning on Mountain Road near the Tim Hortons. (Frederic Cammarano/Radio-Canada)
Picard did not provide more information about what happened and said he could not comment because the investigation is still going on.
When asked if the incident would affect next year’s cars show, the City of Moncton said it would continue to work with organizers of the Atlantic Nationals to ensure future events are safe.