More than 150 people arrested at OKC birthday party for allegedly street racing

By Chantelle Navarro

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    OKLAHOMA CITY (KOCO) — A birthday party turned into a massive street racing bust on Saturday with more than 150 people leaving in handcuffs.

People attending the birthday party in southeast Oklahoma City said they went to the event to look at cars, eat and hang out. When police officers showed up, everything changed.

“As I’m getting that snow cone, they’re like, ‘Everyone get on the ground!’ Matthew Lee, who was arrested Saturday, said.

The arrests happened near the vehicle-wrapping shop, Rocket Wraps.

“They showed up with over 40 police cars. Like everything and had drones and everything, and we were all like scared, like not knowing what was going on,” Dante Cornelius, who was arrested, said.

They all showed up for what they thought was a birthday party and a car meet. People were hanging out and looking at each other’s vehicles, but police said they saw the gathering as something else.

The Oklahoma City Police Department said they were called to bust a street takeover, or street racing. Officers said they found drugs and illegal guns on some of the people they detained.

“It’s not uncommon for us to find narcotics at these events or firearms at these events,” Master Sgt. Dillon Quirk with the Oklahoma City Police Department said.

But Lee said what they witnessed was a whole lot of confusion because they weren’t street racing. Of the 150 arrested, 90 of them were arrested for unlawful assembly.

“They were literally arguing with each other what they were going to charge us with,” Lee said.

Police impounded 60 vehicles.

For one attendee, she said her brother was one of the 150 people arrested, but it wasn’t as simple as bonding him out.

“He’s on ICE hold right now, waiting to see what happens. But it’s kind of hard right now, because we were separated for 11 years growing up, and he’s been here for two, almost three, years,” said the woman, who wanted to be anonymous.

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The group said multiple people are under Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers now.

“You think this was targeted?” KOCO 5’s Chantelle Navarro asked.

“I honestly think so. A lot of them are Hispanic,” she said.

In the meantime, police warned Oklahomans to stay away from anything that could appear to be a street takeover, whether they are getting behind the wheel or not.

“If you’re out there speculating in the activity, eating snow cones, we took enforcement action,” Quirk said.

KOCO 5 is still waiting to hear back from the Department of Homeland Security on how many people are on an ICE hold.

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