Everett Police And Street Racers Play Saturday Night Game Of Cat And Mouse

If you were out and about in Everett, Washington Saturday night you may have seen large groups of Everett Police and even some Washington State Patrol vehicles rolling up and down Broadway, Rucker, Evergreen Way, Everett Mall Way, West Marine View Drive, East Marine View Drive, 41st Street and other arterial streets with their lights on.

At times these groups of officers shut down intersections, entrances to parks, and shopping areas.

All of that activity was due to another group of vehicles containing street racers and their fans. Dozens of vehicles were travelling around areas from north Everett near Riverside to south Everett by the Evergreen Wal-Mart lot. The group would pull into a parking lot or take over an intersection and one or two cars would do burnouts while others watched. Police would arrive and order the vehicles to disperse via a P.A. system and the crowd would break up and go in search of another spot. This went on from about 8:00 PM until around 12:00 AM.

MyEverettNews.com caught up with Everett Police Captain Robert Goetz shortly after midnight when the activity seemed to greatly die down and he explained what we and others witnessed.

“Everett Police obtained information of a potential street racing and drifting event that had the potential to interrupt traffic flow in the city,” said Captain Goetz. “In past events other police departments have experienced large crowds blocking intersections and operating vehicles in a very unsafe manner. Gunfire has also been associated with these events. We established a plan and were able to disrupt these activities over a period of about four hours and achieve a safe outcome. No community members, motorists, bystanders, those trying to participate in the illegal racing or law enforcement members were injured.”

At one point the racers and fans filled a parking lot in Marysville which was quickly surrounded with officers from Marysville PD, Troopers from the Washington State Patrol and the Everett Police team that had been dealing with them. The group was ordered to leave and did, returning back to Everett to try a few more places before finally calling it a night.

“We knew that our efforts to discourage this activity in Everett might send it to nearby cities and we were ready to assist and provide mutual aid with our officers,” Goetz explained.

A total of twenty Everett Police Officers were used in the operation Saturday night. Many were called in on their time off or from other assignments.