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The newly opened Sixth Street bridge connecting the Arts District to Boyle Heights had to be closed Monday night after a street takeover caused a three car collision.
Multiple takeovers have occurred on the Sixth Street Viaduct since its July 10 opening. The Monday night crash occurred around 11 p.m. when a white Dodge Challenger Hellcat performed a burnout and collided with nearby cars. The driver fled the scene on foot and no arrests have been reported at this time. Police closed the bridge to the public after the crash and it reopened Tuesday morning.
The $588 million-dollar bridge began construction in 2016, which replaced an outdated bridge built in 1932.
Multiple cars were seen doing donuts and burnouts on the viaduct Monday night. Some people participating in the takeover trekked up the bridge’s arches to take video and spectate from a bird’s-eye view. No injuries were reported from the incident.
Witnesses at the takeover spoke with CBS News, including a man close to the crash:
"It was a bunch of crazy car people. Then this Challenger was doing a burnout, and then he basically almost hit me, swerved out of the way and hit oncoming traffic and they both spun and almost hit me again."
Jessica Pugach, a driver whose car was crashed into by the Challenger told CBS News,
"At first I was like, 'Oh my god ,it's my first time on the bridge and there's gonna be a takeover? Oh my god, that's so cool. But then no. It wasn't cool, because I almost died."
The bridge already has skid marks from the recent takeovers. A local said to KCAL9,
“This is why we can’t have nice things.”