Route 21 northbound at Exit 10A, the River Road exit in Clifton. Police say the takeover blocked River Road at Entin Road, near this interchange. (Photo: Famartin / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)
Police say about 100 cars and as many as 200 people shut down the intersection of River Road and Entin Road in Clifton, N.J., around 5 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 11. The only criminal charges announced since then are for a handgun and an oversized magazine.
Clifton police laid out the scene in a statement relayed by Daily Voice and Patch. The intersection had been “intentionally blocked” so drivers could race and perform reckless maneuvers, many in the crowd wore face coverings, and numerous cars had their license plates covered or removed. When officers arrived, a department spokesperson said, the crowd “began to flee in all directions, running to their vehicles, driving away recklessly.” Passaic police, Nutley police and the Passaic County Sheriff’s Office sent backup.
Detective Lt. Robert Anderson told WABC-TV that one fleeing vehicle nearly struck a responding officer and that the masks and missing plates made identifying participants difficult. He put the crowd at “100 to 200 people, if not more.”
The two arrests
According to the police account, officers found two men in ski masks standing beside a blue Infiniti with three more men inside. Khiri Summers, 21, and Erick Mendez, 22, both of Monmouth Junction in Middlesex County, were charged with unlawful possession of a handgun and possession of a high-capacity magazine. Both were taken to the Passaic County Sheriff’s Office Corrections Hub to await first court appearances. They are presumed innocent. Police have not said whether the three men inside the car were charged with anything.
The accounts of the statement don’t agree on how many guns there were. Daily Voice lists one Taurus 9mm and one magazine over New Jersey’s legal limit. WABC reported that both men had illegal 9mm handguns. Patch wrote that both men “owned a Taurus 9mm handgun.” Each man faces his own possession count either way, and the complaints will show whether police recovered one pistol or two.
What each law carries
Carrying a handgun without a permit is a second-degree crime under N.J.S.A. 2C:39-5(b). Second-degree sentences run five to 10 years, and because the charge is covered by the Graves Act, N.J.S.A. 2C:43-6(c) requires a conviction to come with a parole-ineligibility period of half the sentence or 42 months, whichever is longer. A magazine that holds more than 10 rounds is a fourth-degree crime under 2C:39-3(j), punishable by up to 18 months.
The racing itself falls under a much older and much lighter statute. N.J.S.A. 39:5C-1 makes it a disorderly persons offense to race on a public highway, or to “arrange for, manage, encourage, or assist in” a race. A first offense carries a fine of $25 to $100. Later offenses bring $100 to $200, up to 90 days in jail, or both. The only history note on the section in the state’s 2025 code is its enactment in 1955.
The bigger cost to a driver is on the license. The Motor Vehicle Commission’s points schedule assigns 5 points for racing on a highway, the same as reckless driving.
That “encourage” clause is broad enough to reach people standing around a takeover, at least on paper. Nothing police have released so far says it was used. The statements give no number of summonses, don’t say what they were written for, and don’t mention any cars being towed or impounded. No racing, reckless driving or eluding charges have been announced. Anderson told WABC that participants could face charges ranging from disorderly conduct to obstruction and fleeing from officers, and Clifton police said additional arrests and summonses are likely.
Other states’ answers
Other legislatures have gone further. Tennessee turned drag racing into a felony after scenes of armed passengers riding in the windows of spinning cars in Memphis. Louisville police seized a 2009 Charger at a 2024 takeover in Shawnee Park and plan to let a monster truck flatten it on Saturday. In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed four bills on Sept. 23, 2024 (AB 1978, AB 2186, AB 2807 and AB 3085) that expanded impound authority to cover spectators and anyone aiding a sideshow.
Not every attempt passes. Colorado’s HB26-1329 would have made it illegal to knowingly watch a street takeover and spelled out when police and courts could impound or seize the cars. The House Judiciary Committee voted 6-5 on April 1 to postpone it indefinitely, which killed it.
In Clifton, the next documents will be the complaints against Summers and Mendez at their first appearances in Passaic County, and whatever summonses come out of the video detectives are now reviewing.
Should New Jersey write a takeover law that treats the crowd like the drivers, or is a 1955 racing statute plus the state’s gun laws enough?
Sources: Clifton Police Department statements as reported by Daily Voice, Patch and WABC-TV; N.J.S.A. 39:5C-1, 2C:39-5, 2C:39-3, 2C:39-1 and 2C:43-6; New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission points schedule; Office of the Governor of California; Colorado General Assembly.
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