The Los Angeles River is iconic — especially if you’re into cars. It’s been the backdrop of countless car scenes in movies. “Greece,” “Drive,” “The Dark Knight Rises,” and “Gone in 60 Seconds” are just a handful of examples where the LA River plays an integral role in the movie. So, it would make sense why a group of car enthusiasts would want to use it for a photo shoot. Unfortunately for them, that’s super illegal to do if you don’t have the proper permits, and issues can get even worse if you start acting like a jackass, as dozens of folks found out on June 9.
The Los Angeles Police Department said its street racing task force responded around 6:30 p.m. in the Cypress Park neighborhood of LA. There, they found over 100 vehicles parked inside the LA River. All in all, they arrested 86 people — including two for felonies — and impounded 72 cars, according to CBS News.
Drivers claimed they were there for a car meetup when the officers arrived unexpectedly to tell them they were trespassing, but they’ve got a really good excuse! You see, they didn’t know they were trespassing, because the sign was so small. How a group of 100 people could think it’s chill to drive in the LA River is beyond me, but that’s the story they’re going with. Here’s what a driver told CBS News:
“There’s a trespassing sign that’s really small, you can’t read it,” said Alexander Pimienta, one of the many drivers who were in attendance at the gathering. “We weren’t doing anything illegal, we weren’t doing anything stupid. … They towed my motorcycle, they’re towing trucks, they’re towing over 50 cars.”
Another driver, Angel Rodriguez, told FOX11 Los Angeles that if the city didn’t want cars going in the river channel, officials should make it harder to access.
“It’s better to have a barrier so no one could enter, so it doesn’t happen again for other people,” Rodriguez said. “But it’s a nice view to take pictures.”
Photoshoot extracurriculars
Pimienta also spoke with FOX11, and he said that the gathering was meant to be a photo shoot for the Los Angeles car community, not a street takeover. I can see how that would make some sense. The only issue is that there were boneheads in the crowd who started doing burnouts, though he says those drivers left before police got there.
“They’re messing around, being dumb, being idiots and all that,” Pimienta said. “But hey, everyone’s having fun, but they left and they got the cops called on us.”
This wasn’t the only example of drivers being dinguses. Rodriguez, whose Ford Mustang (of course) was impounded by police, says he got there right when the vibe began to shift.
“I guess some cars started going crazy for some reason,” Rodriguez said. “It was just supposed to be pictures. Yeah. So that’s what I was here for, just for pictures.”
Pimienta argued that the fact that 72 cars were impounded was definitely overkill, saying that because it’ll cost “around $3,000” to get them out, it’ll create a financial burden that goes beyond the trespassing ticket everyone also got.
I suppose if there’s a lesson to be learned here, perhaps don’t drive your car onto the LA River channel, no matter how sick it looks.
