Residents of a quiet Queens neighborhood were left fuming after a car was set on fire and a couple was violently attacked during an illegal street takeover involving dozens of vehicles.
Those who live in Malba say that a wide, circular intersection in the neighborhood makes it a hot spot for drift racing. But what occurred over the weekend was on another level of danger and violence that they do not want to see repeated.
“Saturday night they declared war on Malba. Those outsiders who came here declared war on this neighborhood,” said New York City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino.
Videos posted to Paladino’s social media showed the scene, with more than 50 cars gathering near 141st Street and Boulevard.
“I moved the car into the middle to slow [the gathering] down, and it did — they kind of started leaving from this street. And then they lit the thing on fire and it just went chaotic again.,” said Larry Rusch, who lives in the area.
But the burning car was only part of the chaos. Down the block, a man who asked to be identified only as Blake confronted several people standing in his driveway, asking them to leave.
“So when you say ‘Get off my property,’ and all you see is people videotaping and people saying this is what we do,” he said.
The confrontation was recorded by the unwanted visitors. Blake was jumped, kicked and punched in front of his wife, who tried to push people off him.
“Fractured nose, fractured shoulder, fractured bone in my face, a few fractured ribs, and this fracture in my neck with the cartiledge. I’m lucky to be standing here,” said Blake, who is now home recovering.
Blake said he wants to share his story in the hopes that it never happens again in the neighborhood.
“This was something like we’ve never seen before…hopefully this doesn’t happen to somebody else and maybe it’ll stop,” said Blake. “Nobody deserves this no matter where you live.”
Residents hope the city can do checkpoints at some entrances into this neighborhood or install speed bumps to deter street racing. Police said no arrests had been made.
