Police film driver's alleged burnout with kids in car during Summernats

Police filmed a driver allegedly doing a burnout near pedestrians during this year’s Summernats 36 while he had two children in his car.

This is one of the alleged incidents that kept ACT Policing officers busy during the event, which ran from Thursday to Sunday (4 to 7 January) and drew 130,000 spectators and 2500 car entrants across the four days.

A police investigation has begun into several alleged altercations that were filmed and shared to social media appearing to involve both patrons and security guards.

Police said officers also had to seize several vehicles and looked into multiple instances of hoon driving behaviour.

Around 4 pm on Saturday, a drone operated by a police air support team filmed a black Holden Commodore allegedly conducting a burnout just metres from pedestrians.

Footage of the incident shows bystanders appearing to encourage the driver.

“Shortly after, police spoke to the driver in nearby Mitchell where it was identified that the 22-year-old man had two children and two adult passengers in the vehicle at the time of the offence,” police allege.

The man from Macquarie had his right to drive suspended in the ACT for three months and his Holden Commodore was seized.

He will be summonsed to face court at a later date where he is expected to face charges including dangerous driving, driving an unsafely maintained vehicle, plates not properly issued, proceeding through a red light and speeding.

Two other arrests were also made on Saturday over alleged anti-social behaviour at the event, while 13 vehicles were seized across the four days.

ACT Policing Acting Superintendent Rod Anderson expressed his disappointment towards those who engaged in hoon driving and anti-social behaviour.

“Unfortunately, police responded to several incidents of dangerous driving and general anti-social behaviour across the weekend,” he said.

“This type of behaviour on our roads placed other road users and pedestrians at significant risk.”

He also said anti-social behaviour was prevalent, with police responding to various instances of fighting and general non-compliance from large crowds both inside and outside the event.

“It was really disappointing to see how many people engaged in this type of behaviour, with no regard for others that were there to enjoy the event,” Acting Superintendent Anderson said.

Summernats organisers have said that out of 130,000 spectators through the gates and 2500 entrant cars, there were 20 spectator evictions and 84 car evictions.

When it came to the hooning outside the event, Summernats co-owner Andy Lopez said he shared the frustration of police.

“Our community absolutely doesn’t endorse that behaviour,” he said.

“The vast majority, if not all, of our entrants would feel the same way.”

He said the police did an amazing job at the event, which was a feeling shared by 99.9 per cent of the entrants.

“The city needs big events to keep it lively and Summernats is one of those,” Mr Lopez said.

The organisers are also conducting an investigation into the alleged altercations between patrons and security.