Police announced more arrests in a series of chaotic car meetups that occurred in a seven-hour span in Philadelphia in September in which officers were attacked, fires were set and vehicles were vandalized.
"You are not going to attack my police officers," Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said during a press conference on Thursday, Nov. 7. "You’re not going to jump on our cars. And you’re not going to treat us and devalue the work that we do each and every day."
Commissioner Bethel and Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore announced they've made a total of nine arrests so far in connection to the car meetups.
"We’re here to serve the men and women of this community. But what I will not allow is my officers to be attacked by individuals who just want to come out and race around our city," Bethel said. "If you want to engage in this activity, you may get me the first time but I’m going to get you."
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A night of chaos
The car meetups took place between the night of Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, and the early morning hours of Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024.
The first meetup began Sept. 21, at 9:30 p.m. on the 7400 block of Bustleton Avenue where around 50 cars were involved, police said. One of the drivers involved tried to evade police and drove directly at officers, crashing into a civilian’s vehicle in the process, investigators said.
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The second meetup occurred at 11:47 p.m. on 20th Street and Pattison Avenue where over 100 vehicles were involved in reckless driving and drifting, police said.
Then, at midnight, a police officer spotted a silver Nissan doing donuts in the middle of the street in the area of Columbus Boulevard and Pattison Avenue. The Nissan then moved towards the officer’s vehicle, police said. The officer managed to get out of the way and then followed the Nissan until it struck a pole on 300 Pattison Avenue, investigators said. Four males then fled from the Nissan.
At 1:30 a.m., police responded to a report of gunshots on 25th Street and Washington Avenue. When they arrived, they were met by a woman who said several cars were in the intersection when she was attacked by another woman and a man who threw an orange traffic cone at her, knocking her to the ground. As the woman spoke with the officers, they heard another gunshot coming from the direction of cars in the street. The vehicles fled the area and police recovered a spent shell casing and a live round.
At 2:25 a.m., police responded to 11th Street and Grange Avenue where there was an unruly crowd of people and a large group of cars. The responding officers were unable to disperse the crowd and were briefly surrounded, police said. One of the officers then called for backup and the crowd was dispersed once more police arrived. There were no reports of injuries, arrests or property damage at that location.
At 4 a.m., police responded to Island and Bartram avenues where over 200 cars were involved in drag racing and drifting. The officers were attacked and a police vehicle was damaged, investigators said. The crowd dispersed once more police arrived.
Finally, at 4:33 a.m., officers responded to 15th and Market streets in Center City where more than 100 cars were drifting and members of a crowd were setting rubbish fires, investigators said. The responding officers were attacked and multiple police vehicles were damaged with broken windshields and flattened tires, police said.
Arrests in car meetups
Utilizing technology and witnesses, police identified 50 vehicles involved in the car meetups and recovered 31 of them.
Deonte Vincent, 25, was arrested and charged in connection to the incident on Bustleton Avenue.
On Oct. 23, 20-year-old David French was arrested in connection to one of the incidents and charged with rioting and other offenses. Vanore said French had previously been cited in March for drag racing on Cottman Avenue.
Joseph Cavanaugh, 21, of Levittown, Pennsylvania, and James Hare, 20, of Philadelphia, were both arrested on Friday, Oct. 25, in connection to the illegal car meetups.
Cavanaugh, who was arrested on Coral Lane in Levittown, is charged with aggravated assault, causing risking catastrophe, criminal mischief, RIOT, criminal conspiracy, recklessly endangering another person, simple assault, fleeing a police officer, disorderly conduct-hazard and reckless driving.
Hare, who was arrested on Bustleton Avenue in Philadelphia, is charged with causing risking catastrophe, RIOT, recklessly endangering another person, criminal conspiracy, possessing an instrument of crime, fleeing a police officer, criminal mischief, disorderly conduct-hazard and reckless driving.
Police described Cavanaugh of the organizer of the car meetups and Hare as a participant.
"Joseph Cavanaugh's social media was identified as being the creator of 'Project X,'" Deputy Commissioner Vanore said on Friday, Nov. 8. "He was the promoter of the car meetup. He was utilizing his social media. He was making money."
Vanore said Cavanaugh encouraged people in Philadelphia, New York, New Jersey and Delaware to participate in the meetups. According to investigators, of the nine people who were arrested, only three are from Philadelphia. The others are from Maryland, Pittsburgh, the Pennsylvania suburbs and New Jersey, officials said.
Police said the most recent arrest occurred on Nov. 7. Juawan Williams, 21, of Maryland, was arrested and charged with filming the car meetups by illegally flying a drone within the city and then posting the videos to social media. Police said they are working with Meta to shut down the websites that paid for and posted the drone footage.
Despite the arrests, police continue to investigate all of the incidents that occurred.
"We ain't gonna stop," Bethel said. "We're going to lock up every person who came into our city, disrespected my men and women, disrespected our city and what we stand for."
If you have any information on the car meetups, call Philadelphia Police at 215-686-TIPS (8477).
Philadelphia police crack down on potential looting
In addition to announcing the arrests in the illegal car meetups, Commissioner Bethel also said police received reports of posts circulating on social media about planned looting in Center City and other Philly neighborhoods.
"We are not going to allow individuals to walk through this city and loot. We’re going to put forth our greatest effort to stop that from happening," Bethel said. "It’s unacceptable that individuals post on a website that they’re going to come and loot 52nd Street. Small businesses that are still struggling to come back from the last looting now have to close their doors and hire security because someone wants to put online what they’re going to do. Based solely on nothing other than being an opportunist at what they want to do to their community."
Bethel said police will increase their patrols throughout the city over the weekend to prevent any potential looting.
“We will hope that that doesn’t happen but we sure as hell will be ready if it does,” he said. “We want to send that strong message. We’re not playing today, tomorrow or doing my tenure. You’re not going to destroy this city. We’re going to make this city a safe city.”
Updates on ATV and dirt bike crackdown
Also during Friday's press conference, Philadelphia Police Deputy Commissioner Mike Cram provided an update on the department's initiative to crack down on illegal dirt bikes and ATVs on city streets.
According to Cram, 949 illegal vehicles have been confiscated in Philadelphia this year, compared to 186 in 2023 and 218 in 2022. Cram also said they've made more than 158 arrests and recovered 32 guns -- 15 of which were illegal -- as part of the crackdown this year.
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