A burnout, one of the maneuvers Virginia law lists as exhibition driving. File photo: Supermac1961 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
D’Shawn Creque, 28, pleaded guilty in Norfolk, Virginia, to aiding and abetting the May street takeover on Redgate Avenue in West Ghent, where a flamethrower and fireworks lit the street, WTKR reported. He has finished 80 hours of community service and owes 20 more. Six months of good behavior closes the case, the station said. Its report gives the plea only as a Tuesday and quotes no judge and neither side’s lawyer.
What happened on Redgate Avenue
The takeover ran on Sunday, May 17, around 8:30 p.m. in the 1000 block of Redgate Avenue near Greenway Court, according to WTKR’s report on the first arrest. Neighbors put the crowd at about 75 people and said cars stunt-drove for roughly 20 minutes. One person appeared to use a flamethrower after another poured what looked like gasoline, and others set off fireworks. A 911 caller said, “The street’s on fire!” No injuries were reported.
Creque was arrested May 26 and charged with aiding or abetting street racing or exhibition driving, and was due in court June 2, WAVY reported. Six days earlier, Norfolk police and Virginia Beach police arrested Isaiah A. Duncan-Simmons, 19, of Virginia Beach. He is charged with disorderly conduct and carelessly damaging property by fire, and police say he was holding the flamethrower. Those are charges, and I found no reported outcome in his case.
Eighteen minutes from the first call to an officer on the block
Norfolk Police E911 records, as WAVY reported them, show the first call at 8:22 p.m. and an officer dispatched five minutes later. That officer was pulled onto a separate call involving a person with a weapon. A second officer was sent at 8:38 p.m. and reached the block at 8:40. Chief Mark Talbot told a West Ghent Civic League meeting the department was fully staffed and described the night as a collision of events, per WAVY. Neighbors had said it took more than 20 minutes.
That gap is why takeover cases are built from video after the crowd is gone. Norfolk’s Criminal Intelligence Unit released screen grabs from a video and asked the public to identify people in it, and Creque was arrested nine days after the takeover. Authorities also seized some of the cars, WAVY reported.
What Virginia law gives a judge to work with
I read Virginia Code § 46.2-865. It defines exhibition driving as specific acts done “in close proximity to a group of two or more people,” including holding a car in place while spinning the wheels, zigzagging or spinning in circles, and carrying a passenger on the hood or roof. Under subsection C, exhibition driving on a highway, or on business property open to the public without the owner’s authorization, is reckless driving. A conviction requires the court to suspend the driver’s license for up to six months. Racing under subsection B carries a suspension of six months to two years.
Reckless driving is a Class 1 misdemeanor under § 46.2-868, which means up to 12 months in jail and a fine of up to $2,500 under § 18.2-11. Subsection E makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor to purposefully slow, stop or impede traffic, including pedestrians, for a race or exhibition. The words “aid” and “abet” do not appear in the posted text of § 46.2-865, so which provision Creque pleaded under is a question for the charging document, which I have not seen. WTKR does not say he was driving, and the license suspension in subsections F and G attaches to drivers convicted under B or C.
The fire is a separate matter. The title of § 18.2-88 matches the charge police announced against Duncan-Simmons, “carelessly damaging property by fire.” The statute makes that a Class 4 misdemeanor, which under § 18.2-11 means a fine of up to $250 and no jail time. It also makes the person responsible for the cost of fighting the fire.
Norfolk against Clifton
Backfire News reported that New Jersey’s 1955 racing law caps a first offense at $100 after Clifton’s 100-car takeover. Virginia’s statute is far heavier on paper: a year in jail and $2,500 for reckless driving, plus a license suspension. The terms reported in Creque’s case are 100 hours of community service in total and six months of good behavior, which is closer to the Clifton outcome than to the statute’s ceiling. One plea proves little. Still, 100 hours of community service sits a long way from a year in jail.
Twenty hours to go
Creque has 20 hours left and six months to get through, and WTKR says that finishes the case. Duncan-Simmons’ charges, as far as the reporting I could find shows, remain unresolved. Norfolk police said in May that the investigation was continuing and that tips can go to detectives or the Norfolk Crime Line.
A flamethrower lit a residential street, and the man who aided it gets 100 hours of community service. Fair? Or should the jail time and license suspensions in Virginia’s law reach the helpers too, not just whoever’s behind the wheel?
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