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Police Not Too Happy About Burbank's Upcoming 'Fast & Furious'-Like Meetup
There's a massive car-enthusiast gathering that's scheduled to take place in a Burbank shopping center parking lot on Tuesday night. It's the closest thing we have to a real-life Fast & Furious-like custom-car meetup here (minus appearances from the Rock and Vin Diesel).
The last gathering took place in 2013, and it was so crazy that the Burbank Empire Center and nearby streets were filled with 3,500 people and 1,100 cars, according to CBS Los Angeles. Burbank police ended up handing out 100 citations and making two arrests, the L.A. Times reports.
Here's a video of that meetup to give you an idea of how huge it was:
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The amusingly-named Krispy Kreme Tuesdays Burbank Facebook group (with no actual affiliation to the donut shop) is organizing the event. The Facebook event page encourages car enthusiasts to show off their cars that night starting at 9 p.m. outside of the Krispy Kreme shop in the plaza. The invite says, "Have some donuts. Have some panda express. Look at all the rides. Meet some people. [sic]" Ironically, the Krispy Kreme shop won't be open that night. Panda Express will stay open, but they're not looking forward to the event. The restaurant's general manager Kiri Meas told the Times that this event is worse than Black Friday. That says a lot.
So far, over 1,800 people have RSVP'ed. The invite warns folks that the California Highway Patrol and Burbank Police Department will be there, so people need to make sure not to race, rev their engines, do burnouts, fight and litter.
Burbank police said in a release that while individuals have the right to "peacefully and lawfully assemble," officers will be there to enforce laws, the Times reports. That means they'll be keeping an eye out for cars that have illegal engines and car modifications. Authorities are worried about the traffic that will take place that night.
The event's organizer who goes by the moniker Jeremy Lee has already received some backlash from the community. He told the Times that the city of Burbank sent him a letter threatening to sue him if the event took place, but Lee says that even if he were to cancel the event, it's too late. People would still show up anyway.
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