JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and Florida Highway Patrol have made 22 arrests in connection with “Operation Braking News,” a crackdown on racing at car meet-up events around Jacksonville.
News4JAX found that about a dozen people were booked into the Duval County jail over the weekend on charges tied to street racing after a video circulating online appeared to show a large car gathering at Tinseltown with a heavy law enforcement response.
Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters and FHP Capt. Kenneth Boatright will announce the results of the operation during a news conference at 12:05 p.m. Tuesday.
When News4JAX reviewed the JSO inmate search, we found at least a dozen bookings between Saturday and Sunday for charges including violating Florida’s street racing/stunt driving law, operating a motor vehicle in a “street takeover,” racing on a highway (including passenger/spectator charges), and fleeing or eluding.
Meanwhile, News4JAX crews on Saturday night observed a law enforcement presence near the movie theater in the Tinseltown area off Southside Boulevard. Crews also saw vehicles being towed, including luxury cars. At the time, News4JAX did not receive details on what prompted the response.
On Monday, an Instagram reel using News4JAX video gained tens of thousands of views. The reel appears to show cars gathered in a Tinseltown parking lot, burnouts and then a large law enforcement response.
A worker at a nearby business said he watched it happen.
Seth Ouk, a sous chef at Soupa Noodle Bar in Tinseltown, told News4JAX he saw a large group of cars arrive and said drivers were showing off their cars when police moved in.
“Normally, I’ll see the cars in the Riverside area or something, but there were a bunch of dudes they come over here, and this particular section, and they meet up do burnouts,” Ouk said.
Ouk said the law enforcement response appeared coordinated. He said he saw about 20 police cars and a helicopter in the sky.
“This time it was like really quiet like clockwork — a bunch of cops came around and stopped all the exits,” Ouk said. “There were people coming out of the movie theater and they were siphoning them out of this little plaza that we have over here.”
“I’ve never seen a sting like that. It was actually pretty crazy,” he added.
The viral video and the police activity at Tinseltown follow News4JAX reporting last week on a separate social media post promoting what it called a “car meetup afterparty” in Downtown Jacksonville.
That now-deleted Instagram flyer listed E. Bay Street and advertised a Saturday night start time. When asked about that Downtown post last week, JSO told News4JAX it was aware and said it would monitor if an event occurred. A spokesperson also said the agency would take enforcement action if violations of municipal ordinances or state law were reported or observed.
News4JAX asked JSO on Monday morning for details about what happened at Tinseltown, including:
- Whether JSO was aware of any planned gathering at Tinseltown Saturday night
- Whether any arrests were made at or connected to the Tinseltown location
- How many officers responded
- Whether any crashes were reported in connection with the incident
It’s possible these questions will now be answered in Tuesday’s news conference.
Street racing and reckless driving are illegal in Florida and can lead to arrest, fines and license suspensions, and in some cases felony charges for repeat offenders.
If you see street racing or reckless driving happening in real time, call 911. For non-emergencies in Jacksonville, call 904-630-0500.