‘My heart was racing,’ reckless drivers hold up traffic on I-240 Sunday morning

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - Police want to know more information about the reckless drivers who caused a standstill in traffic on I-240, performing doughnuts.

Jeri Raburn of Bartlett and her friend had just wrapped up a night of watching live music in Memphis Saturday night and were on the way home.

It was just past midnight into Sunday morning when the two were on I-240 eastbound, just before the Walnut Grove exit.

“We noticed people flying passed us on the left, and then we came to a stop on the interstate. I figured they’d wrecked,” Raburn said.

The cars hadn’t wrecked but parked in the middle of 240, blocking all four lanes of traffic to do donuts, some of the drivers getting out of their cars to film on their phones, one even climbing the railings of an overhead street sign.

“People are wearing masks and hoodies,” Raburn said, believing this was a planned incident. “They’re just doing these donuts in front of us. I was afraid their car was going to hit us.”

Raburn said the incident lasted twenty minutes before traffic resumed as normal, so while she waited she pulled out her phone to film the incident for herself.

She said she put her phone away when the people participating in the reckless driving started pulling out guns.

“I was very afraid,” Raburn said. “I was shaking; my heart was racing.”

She called Memphis Police three times, showing us her call log.

MPD confirmed they received multiple calls on the traffic stop and said officers dispersed the scene but that no report was taken, no charges were filed, and there are currently no suspects.

“If (MPD) could’ve just sent a helicopter and put a light on them, anything to just disperse it... I knew they weren’t going to be able to catch all of those guys, but if they could’ve just dispersed the situation... because the way they were driving... I was really afraid they were going to hit our car,” said Raburn.

We asked Memphis Police what the department’s protocol is for engaging in situations of reckless driving like Sunday morning’s, but we did not receive a response to that question.

MPD is asking anyone with information on this situation to call Memphis CrimeStoppers at (901)528-CASH.

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