Street takeovers throughout city devolve into clashes with police, arrests and car impoundment

A man climbs onto a Chicago Police Department vehicle as officials attempted to break up a street takeover, where hundreds gathered to watch cars drift in circles at West 119th and South Halsted streets on the Far South Side, Friday night, Aug. 26, 2022. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times)

A cross-country street takeover that allegedly attracted drifters from 14 states converged downtown overnight, capping a hectic evening for Chicago’s underground car scene that started with spectators clashing with police officers late Friday at a Far South Side intersection.

By early Saturday, two young men were arrested and one of them had their car impounded — thought to be the first purported drifter to lose a vehicle under a new city ordinance aimed at curbing such street stunts.