A Moncton City Councillor is demanding answers after he says a large gathering of vehicles on Mountain Road led to dangerous driving and public safety concerns.
Bryan Butler says the situation should never have been allowed to unfold.
Hundreds of onlookers gathered on Saturday night to watch as the burnouts and stunting unfolded.
Speaking during a recent Moncton City Council meeting, Butler said videos circulating online showed vehicles spinning tires and creating clouds of smoke while crowds, including children and families, watched from nearby sidewalks.
“I’m very upset,” Butler said.
He stressed that his criticism was not aimed at front-line RCMP members responding to the situation, as officers are often required to make difficult decisions in situations where resources may be limited, and crowd conditions can pose risks to police.
“I don’t blame the members,” he said. “Sometimes it’s safer for the members to stay in the car than to get out. When you get out, you’re very vulnerable to the crowd.”
Instead, Butler said questions need to be asked about planning and oversight before the event occurred.
“Whoever did the planning for this should be held accountable,” he said. “They should be accountable to the mayor, the CAO, council and, most of all, the residents.”
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The councillor said he received numerous complaints from residents about noise from squealing tires and safety concerns.
“If you know the history, it’s going to come to town,” Butler said. “And that’s exactly what happened.”
Beyond the noise complaints, Butler said the biggest concern was the risk to spectators standing near vehicles performing dangerous maneuvers.
“Seeing children and their parents out on the sidewalk trying to take photos and cars sliding sideways — you don’t know if that driver has five minutes of driving experience or ten years,” Butler said.
He said he does not know how many officers were working that night or what resources were available, but believes the response was inadequate.
“Whoever was planning that, whoever was on duty, that was a supervisor or who was the officer on call, dropped the ball,” Butler said.
“When we know things like this are going to happen like this and we are trying to put ourselves on a stage for the Memorial Cup and for volleyball, we have to show we’re not going to drop the ball when it comes to enforcement.”
He added that this cannot ever, ever happen again. “This was absolutely out of control,” Butler said.
