A car slammed into a restaurant after narrowing missing a crowd of people in a chaotic scene captured on security camera video during a street takeover in Sylmar.
People watching the street takeover late Saturday scattered to avoid the BMW sedan as it skidded through an intersection. No injuries were reported, but the crash damaged windows and a wall at El Tarasco in the 13000 block of Glenoaks Boulevard.
Restaurant owners said it seemed like just a matter of time before something like this happened.
“We were expecting something that bad to happen,” said Chris Torres whose parents opened El Tarasco 35 years ago.
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Torres said the intersection has become a hot spot for street racing and street takeovers since the pandemic began. Two people were shot at the intersection on the same night as a takeover about two months ago, he said.
Spectators lined nearby streets to watch Saturday’s takeover. Video shows one person who was recording video of the event scramble to avoid the BMW, narrowly avoiding the car.
‘It just happens every weekend,” Torres said. “This one time just happened to go a little too far.”
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The car knocked over tables and chairs inside the restaurant. Adjoining walls shifted due to the force of the crash.
The video shows a crowd of gawkers gathering around the BMW after the crash. A person who got out of the BMW can be seen ripping the security camera from a wall of the restaurant. Another person removed the car’s license plate.
Windows were boarded up as repairs continued this week.
“You can do whatever you want, as long as it doesn’t hurt someone else,” Torres said. “This is something of huge risk. You’re playing with people’s lives.”
