NOPD rounding up the herd

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NEW ORLEANS – Police have issued a warrant for a Denham Springs teenager after a weekend stunt-driving display in the city, accusing him of crimes including rioting.

The 17-year-old boy is among five people facing arrest warrants so far. His name is not being released since he’s a juvenile.

"Everybody's super nice, quiet neighborhood, and the next thing you know you hear something like this and you're like what is going on," one neighbor said after learning the teen lives on the same street as her. 

He faces charges of felony simple criminal damage to property in the amount of $5,000; aggravated obstruction of a highway in commerce; simple assault; disturbing the peace by tumultuous behavior and rioting.

"It's kind of nice to know who you live next to, so when you hear something like this, it's like okay now I need to start questioning all my other neighbors like what's really going on," she said. 

The four other people police are looking for are from New Orleans, Kenner and Metairie.

Over the weekend, social media accounts for Baton Rouge car clubs advertised a “takeover” of New Orleans streets, and videos posted to social media that showed dangerous stunt driving in the city went viral.

"You just don't think people do things like this, and then to know that they're like right down the road, oh my gosh; lock your doors, hide your kids. It's scary. It's really scary," the neighbor said.

One showed a lone NOPD unit trying to move through a crowd of hundreds as cars did donuts at St. Claude and St. Roch avenues. In that video, a handful of people attacked the police unit and jumped on the hood.

On Friday, New Orleans Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said the five warrants were related to that scene, which is a short distance from the French Quarter.

Another video, recorded across town closer to the Central Business District, showed people openly displaying guns while waving them in the air. That video was shared on a Baton Rouge car group’s Instagram account. That account, however, later put up a post that said it was simply sharing someone else’s video.

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