(WXYZ) — Illegal street racing, burnouts and donuts are a problem in Detroit, and have been for years.
Earlier this week, a veteran Detroit police officer was injured in the line of duty trying to stop a car after it was performing donuts in the middle of an intersection in Corktown.
But it's along Atwater St. near Downtown Detroit where large crowds gather on the weekend, and police are doing everything they can to keep the police.
Along Atwater, you can see the burnout marks and donut marks where people have been laying strips of rubber, leaving residents fed up.
"It's just got to stop. Honestly, it just has to stop," one resident said.
Detroiters are fed up with the antics of the street racers
"Our community needs to be safe. these young guys they're doing all of this drag racing and doing all of these shootings," one resident name Marcus said. He lives nearby. "These young guys just out of their mind. You hanging out the car shooting at police. You know They're going to shoot back."
Marcus is referring to an incident last month when officers from the 10th Precinct were shot at while responding to break up a drag racing and drifing event, all captured on dash cam video.
A 10-year-old girl was also killed after a 16-year-old was drifting in front of police at a traffic stop before losing control and crashing into a tree.
In front of Orleans Landing Apartments along Atwater, residents are dealing with a quality of life issue for those doing donuts and street racing.
"A lot of times when we come and increase presence to encourage better decision making those who make different decisions will choose to go somewhere else," Detroit Police Deputy Chief Franklin Hayes said. "What we have found is some of those who participate in those activities have shifted here but we have shifted our personnel as well and increased our presence on this footprint."
Police are making a conscious effort to stop the street racing by putting up barriers for crowd control. A lot of the crowds come off of Belle Isle looking for a place to go.
One resident said it starts around 7 p.m. and continues until 4 a.m. or 5 p.m.
"In the middle of the night they turn this into where they're racing. I've called the police and there have been times I've called the police 20 to 30 times and I have seen the police drive through here and not do anything," one resident said.
The video below shows burnout and donut marks along the streets near the Detroit Riverfront near Atwater earlier this week. It was taken when Detroit Grand Prix officials drove the new 2023 track
Hayes has a message for people who think Detroit is their race track. Just stop.
"We have too many residents here. We have children out playing. We have people just walking going to the store, just traversing living life in here and have to worry about one of those 3,000-4,000 pound machines down the street being possibly ran over and not being given enough time to react."
Police have a dedicated team of 20-40 officers looking to break up these types of gatherings, and over the last two weeks, they have really clamped down. One woman we spoke with said she is starting to notice a difference.
