NEW JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — Did you get the alert?
Some people across the Philly region received an emergency notification on their phones Sunday night ordering a dispersal after a large crowd formed in Gloucester County. No additional details were provided.
It’s all because an “Import Expo” Car and Music Fest at the Bridgeport Speedway apparently didn’t go as planned. There was a larger crowd than anticipated. People were getting turned away at the gate, while more people were arriving and parking on nearby streets.
Logan Township police issued a statement that said the event was unpermitted, with about 25,000 people from all over the region. They said there were fights, cars speeding, public intoxication and one person was taken into custody for disorderly conduct.
In a Facebook post on Monday, the owner of Speedway apologized for the inconvenience this caused the community.
“I do not like to make excuses, and I do not want this to sound like an excuse. I would like to express to our neighbors once we realized this was not what we expected as a facility, we, along with authorities, diligently began to dissolve the event without causing things to escalate,” the post read.
The owner cited the overall problem as traffic. They said the first step of action they took was with the police to shut down access to Floodgate Road, which leads to the Speedway, and let guests know why the event was not accepting any more patrons.
“In just a short time, we realized folks were parking elsewhere and walking their way to the event. At that time, enough was enough, and we decided to begin the process of shutting down the event, again with the mindset not to cause anything to escalate,” the post continued.
Once the event stopped and everyone was made aware, the owner said alerts went out over phones, asking everyone to disperse. They said many of the social media posts about what happened were not true.
"Again, I do not want to make excuses. This post is to APOLOGIZE and promise we will be better at what we do because of this.”
