Elon Musk condemned an illegal street takeover in Philadelphia, which authorities said was sparked by a series of aggressive street racing incidents over the weekend.
The incidents happened across multiple locations in the city from 9:30 p.m. Saturday night to 5 a.m. Sunday morning, Philadelphia police said, adding that large crowds and 50 to 200 vehicles gathered at each location.
Videos from the incidents showed cars drifting in circles as people set off fireworks and started trash fires. Some clips showed mobs vandalizing police vehicles, including one where people swarmed and stomped on a police cruiser.
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"Pretty sure I saw this scene in The Joker," Musk said on X in response to a video of a police car being surrounded by a massive mob posted by the Republican House Judiciary.
"You’re not safe in Democrat-run Philadelphia," the House Judiciary GOP account said.
In the 2019 film "Joker," the Joker is shown riding in the back of a police car as riots breakout and chaos descends upon Gotham City. He later stands on the crashed police car and is surrounded by a cheering crowd.
Conservative X influencer Joey Mannarino made another debaucherous pop culture reference.
"Philadelphia basically looks like a game of Grand Theft Auto now. It is just sad that we’ve allowed the city where the Declaration of Independence was signed to become this," he said.
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"They physically went after some of our officers," Philadelphia Police Deputy Commissioner Mike Cram told reporters during a news conference on Monday, noting the "aggressiveness" of the mob.
"There’s officers in the car, they’re jumping on the windshield. They're physically doing damage," said Cram. "They don't care about your safety, their own safety. If you've all seen the videos with their behavior, they really don't care. It's just about how much chaos can we cause?"
Cram described the officers as being "trapped" inside the car as the mob swarmed the patrol unit, adding that police were "definitely targeted" during the overnight incidents.
Police said five Philadelphia police vehicles sustained damage ranging from broken windshields to flat tires. One officer suffered minor injuries at one scene after a vehicle struck his patrol car and fled.
"This isn’t a third world country. This is PHILADELPHIA," podcaster Graham Allen said.
