The Durham County Sheriff's Office is in the midst of an ongoing investigation into car clubs and car meet-ups, which Capt. Keith Webster told ABC11 have increased dramatically since 2021.
Just last week in Durham, a 16-year-old was shot by a Durham Police Officer after the DPD said that the teen pulled a gun at a car club meet-up at the Woodcroft Shopping Center. Those informal gatherings of car enthusiasts frequently include illegal driving stunts.
"The street takeovers, the high speeds, the dangerous burnouts, the doughnuts in these parking lots," said Webster of the meetings.
Webster said the rise in local car meet-ups -- which is a trend law enforcement is seeing nationally -- has forced them to become more proactive in their approach.
"We pull intel from all over to work together and to help combat the car clubs because they are dangerous," he said.
It's an activity that's recently turned deadly in Durham. On July 13, the Durham County Sheriff's Office responded to a car meet-up near Research Triangle Park that left 22-year-old Oscar Santos of Benson dead. Warrants obtained by ABC11 show that Santos was run over after a Chevy Trailblazer driven by his brother was "swinging" side to side so aggressively that half the car went airborne. That warrant SAID Oscar was hanging out of the window recording the stunt when his brother lost control of the car.
"We're worried about folks getting hurt. We're worried about the drivers. We're worried about the passengers, and we're worried about the general motoring public," Webster said. "Think about others just don't think about yourself."
While the victim in that incident was local, Webster said many participants in car meet-ups travel for the events.
"They're coming in from Virginia. They're coming in from Tennessee. They're coming in from South Carolina, Georgia," he said.
Webster said the DCSO is seeing an average of at least two meet-ups a month in Durham County, and they can come with serious consequences, such as fines, traffic citations, and seizure of a person's car found to be racing illegally.