PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Law enforcement officials in Bucks and Montgomery counties are teaming up to try to prevent another unauthorized car rally like the ones that happened over the weekend at Neshaminy and Willow Grove malls.
The rally first popped up at Neshaminy Mall Saturday night around 11:30 p.m., said Bensalem Director of Public Safety William McVey.
“Basically the whole north side of the Neshaminy Mall parking lot,” said McVey. “People were running through the parking lot. Cars were peeling out doing donuts. It was an extremely unsafe and dangerous situation.”
When police showed up, the crowd scattered, but many of the cars then ended up in the Willow Grove Mall parking lot around 12:30 a.m. Sunday.
“Numerous pedestrians out of their vehicles, taking videos of cars, doing donuts. There was also a ring of fire that was set up around one of the light poles at the mall,” said Abington Police Chief Patrick Molloy.
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Molloy said after the group of hundreds of cars left Willow Grove Mall, some cars were speeding the wrong way down Old York Road. Another car was nearly split in half when it crashed on Old Welsh Road.
“Somehow by the grace of God, they weren't killed,” said Molloy. “I think one (person) is still hospitalized in serious condition.”
Molloy said the rally was similar to one in Wildwood last month where two people were killed and one was seriously injured.
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“These are high stakes,” he said. “We would encourage anybody with loved ones that are participating in this, to do everything they can to discourage this. They're taking a big risk to put themselves at risk.”
McVey and Molloy said law enforcement across the region is teaming up to try to prevent future gatherings.
“We're trying to team up with all municipalities, malls, or large parking areas so that we come up with some type of plan to respond to these incidents,” said McVey.
They’re asking anyone who hears about plans for a rally to report it to the police. They can call Abington Police at 267-536-1100, Bensalem Police at 215-633-3719, or offer a tip here.