31-year-old Detroit man arrested after allegedly caught on viral video doing donuts, drifting in front of DPD officers

 A 31-year-old driver is behind bars Friday morning and facing pending charges for allegedly pulling dangerous stunts at a Detroit intersection -- all while police officers looked on.
Photo credit Getty

DETROIT (WWJ) - A 31-year-old driver is behind bars Friday morning and facing pending charges for allegedly pulling dangerous stunts at a Detroit intersection -- all while police officers looked on.

The Detroit Police Department said the suspect, a resident of Detroit, was taken into custody and his car was impounded for his alleged involvement in drifting and using his vehicle to do donuts at the crossroads of 7 Mile and Greenfield on Monday, Dec. 5.

In video captured of the incident and posted to social media, at least two vehicles — including a white Dodge Charger and a yellow Ford Mustang — can be seen driving recklessly while blocking the intersection at 12:30 a.m.

At one point, someone threw gasoline in a circle and lit it on fire in the middle of the intersection while one Detroit police squad car was seen at the scene.

Police said the 31-year-old suspect was caught after investigators reviewed video and talked with area residents. They're still searching for the others involved in the illegal street stunts which Commander Eric Decker called "dangerous."

"We've had people killed doing this drag racing drifting," Decker said. "We've had officers that were hit by cars. We've had officers unfortunately fire shots at people in very similar circumstances and then when you look nationwide, people are dying because of this."

Decker said he hopes the driver faces serious charges to deter others from performing the same stunts and placing their and other people's lives in danger.

"I'd like to make a serious deterrent out of that, for people who look at it and go, "oh this just isn't a whole lot of fun, people are going to prison.'" he added. "To me, that's a great deterrent and then we are actively investigating to identify a lot of people involved in that incident -- vehicle operators, certainly the person lighting fire a in the streets, spectators."

The commander said he couldn't comment on what the police officers at the scene where thinking or doing because he hasn't spoken to them. Regardless, Decker called the situation a no-win for police whether they intervened or not.

Detroit Police Chief James White vowed to crack down on dangerous driving, including drifting and drag racing, when he took command in 2021.

In addition, police said donuts, spinouts and burnouts present hazards while on the road and would not be tolerated a traffic offenses due to their dangerous nature.

As reported by the Detroit News, DPD has spent over $1 million to enforce the crackdown, which came after several deaths and injuries were reported due to the the activities.

Featured Image Photo Credit: Getty