A Metro Rapid bus was ensnared in the middle of a street takeover in Los Angeles around midnight on Sunday, with people climbing on top of the bus and tagging it as the driver and passengers stuck inside looked on.
Around a dozen people could be seen standing atop the bus at the corner of South Figueroa Street and Alondra Boulevard in a video by freelance news organization OnScene.TV. Dozens of spectators milled around in the streets near the Compton/Gardena border to watch several cars doing doughnuts in the intersection.
The bus driver and his passengers sat waiting in their seats as people climbed up and down the bus, which was tagged on its windshield and back window, the video shows.
Fireworks were set off as part of the spectacle. At one point, a black sedan careened into the crowd. Onlookers grabbed the car’s hood, but no one appeared injured. Two cars associated with the takeover were later impounded and towed away.
No arrests were made when officers got to the scene, said watch commander Sgt. Chris Carson of the LAPD Harbor Division.
” A lot of times, we get there and they’ve moved on,” Carson said, adding that it is unusual for a bus to get trapped in a street takeover, or so-called sideshow. “The local residents don’t like it. We don’t like it. They take over a place and create a hazard. They block traffic. But we don’t have the people to go and grab everyone. They’ll run from us.”
Some street takeovers draw hundreds of people, but only 15 to 20 officers may be available, Carson said.
OnScene.TV reported that LAPD disbursed a street takeover with more than 100 spectators three hours later on Sunday, at the corner of Western Avenue and Century Boulevard in South Los Angeles. A black sedan was left damaged at that intersection.
Representatives for Metro Rapid bus service were not available for comment. The LAPD Street Racing Task Force also could not be reached.
A Metro bus in downtown Los Angeles was surrounded, vandalized and attacked with fireworks at Olympic Boulevard and Flower Street in July 2024. No injuries were reported in that takeover.