LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Traffic was brought to a halt over the weekend as one car after another blocked a south Louisville intersection doing donuts and burnouts. It was one of the latest scenes in an ongoing trend on the city's streets.

"... unfortunately, we have people who can't play by the rules, who can't seem to get right, and that's something that we're going to address," LMPD Interim Chief Paul Humphrey said Tuesday.

Humphrey said street racing is something cities across the region are dealing with, including right here in Louisville. He said the police department will aggressively investigate these types of dangerous situations to make sure people are held accountable.

"I see that they wear masks and they try to cover up their license plates, but we have our ways to identify who you are and who your vehicle belongs to," he said.

Humphrey said while some people may think they've gotten away with this kind of activity, that's not the case. He said police are combing through video. 

"Just because they left that night doesn't mean this is over with," Humphrey said. "The law allows us for up to a year to identify participants in that and still go and seize their vehicles. So if they think they got away, they need to think again."

Humphrey said it doesn't matter whether a person is the one doing donuts, racing or using a car to block the street. Anyone involved can face consequences, including having LMPD take that car for up to six months.

"... and that nice $20,000 paint job that you just put into that car is going to sit on a lot, in the weather, in the conditions, for as long as we can," he said.

Cellphone video from around 1 a.m. Sunday showed cars doing burnouts in the middle of the intersection of New Cut Road and Kenwood Drive just outside Iroquois Park.

"There were cars blocking all lanes of traffic," said Brian Smith, who witnessed the chaos and called 911. "There was no way through the intersections."

Smith said he's thankful police quickly arrived on scene and got people to disperse.

"The first responding officer, his car was jumped on, and they were making very rude gestures and all that you can imagine," Smith said. "So I would like to thank them, because it is a thankless job. They came out and they took care of business. The mayor's department, I don't know what could be done like this. ... I must have been, obviously, a planned event, because there were several instances going on around town. How do you combat something like that?"

On Tuesday, Humphrey said LMPD wants to be aggressive in dealing with these kinds of situations. 

"We do have a way to deal with this. We have a way to approach this," he said. "It's clear what we need to do is we need to push that information out and make sure every patrol officer understands the approach that we want to take so it's safe for them and them and their response."

LMPD has said for more than a year that street racing is impromptu and happens all over the country. Usually, the department learns of it when cars start blocking streets and the public calls. Police said they received calls one Saturday night last year about more than 300 vehicles racing and doing burnouts. 

In October 2023, LMPD said four people had died in the last year in street racing-related crashes.

"This type of behavior presents a danger to the community, those involved in the activity, and our officers," the department said in a written statement Sunday. "LMPD cannot and will not tolerate this activity."

LMPD said an ordinance revised last year has been helpful in getting cars impounded after reckless driving or if they're used in any part of street racing. The ordinance stipulates that if someone is caught, regardless of who is driving, the car's registered owner can face up to $2,000 in fines, and the car can be seized and impounded for up to six months.

Since the ordinance was passed, LMPD said it's seized more than 60 vehicles, issued several citations and made arrests. Officers said many of the cars impounded are from other areas, like Cincinnati and Indianapolis.

Humphrey said officers seized two cars and four guns Sunday, as well as made four arrests and wrote a citation.

"We are not going to allow this to happen — plain and simple," Humphrey said.

According to court documents, co-defendants Marco Rivera, Jose Cortez Rivera, and Ariana Marie Charlotte Rivera, were all arrested just after 12 a.m. Monday morning on multiple charges, including reckless driving, criminal trespassing and carrying a concealed weapon.

Police said LMPD's Air Unit saw multiple vehicles at Cox Park that were "remaining unlawfully" there. The subject vehicle, police said, was a red Ford Mustang that was doing donuts and burnouts. That vehicle was followed by the air unit to a nearby liquor store drive-thru at 7th Street Road and Arcade Avenue. 

The arrest report says several occupants were in the vehicle, all armed with handguns and one with a rifle. The driver of the vehicle, identified in the arrest report as Cortez Rivera, did not have a valid drivers license and had a Glock handgun with an extended magazine concealed between his legs, "while being under the age of 21." He was also charged with operating without a license. 

Ariana Marie Charlotte Rivera was one of the passengers in the vehicle. She was found with a pistol concealed in her purse. 

All three suspects were arraigned in court Tuesday morning. Cortez Rivera and Ariana Maria Charlotte Rivera were released on $2,500 bonds and ordered to not have guns. Marco Rivera was also ordered to not have guns. His bond was also set at $2,500 but it's unclear if that has been posted. 

LMPD announced Tuesday it will begin holding bi-weekly news conferences to keep people updated on a variety of topics, including investigations into street racing and other dangerous driving incidents. The first news conference will be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.

This story may be updated.

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