A dramatic incident unfolded in Chicago early Wednesday when a group of teenagers collided with a police vehicle, as captured in a viral video that was met with cheers from bystanders.
The event occurred at roughly 12:43 a.m., during what’s being described as a “teen takeover” in Chicago, according to a report by Fox Chicago. During this chaos, a police cruiser was struck by another car.
Footage from the scene shows a crowd gathered around the vehicles, with some individuals climbing onto the police car as it was being pushed in reverse.
Nineteen-year-old Maximus Wyderski faces charges of misdemeanor reckless driving along with fleeing or attempting to elude officers. He also received nine citations for various vehicle-related offenses.
In his defense, Wyderski explained to Fox News Digital that he was merely an observer of the street takeover and not an active participant when his car’s battery failed.
He recounted his attempt to signal police for assistance, only to be accused by an officer of being involved in the situation.
He denied being the driver of the car seen ramming a police vehicle.
“The second cop, he pulls right behind me, gets out of his car, and tells me to ‘get the f— out,’ put my hands up, and then he arrests me. And then he said that I was a part of an alleged street takeover and then charged me with all that,” Wyderski said.
A second street takeover happened on Friday night in the city’s Hegewisch neighborhood, according to Alderman Peter Chico.
During that street takeover, masked individuals were seen banging on a Chicago police cruiser and preventing it from moving. It’s unclear if any arrests were made.
Alderman Raymond Lopez said everyone associated with the street takeovers should be arrested, and he thinks it’s concerning only one person was caught.
“I’m very much concerned only one person was arrested, in a sea of stupidity we only caught one criminal fish, I find that hard to believe because everyone there is breaking the law,” Lopez said.
“Everyone there is contributing to the minors there who are breaking the law and all of them are putting each other’s lives at risk.”
“Nobody should be killed just going about their daily business because of a street take over, because someone wants to become TikTok, Instagram famous,” he said.
Illinois State Comptroller Susan Mendoza criticized Democratic Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, saying on X “if you won’t lead, get out of the way and let the police do their jobs.”
“CPD deserves better. This brazen attack on our @Chicago_Police officers calls for license revocation, car impounding, arrests, maximum fines — actual consequences,” Mendoza said.
Fox News Digital reached out to Chicago police and Johnson’s office.
