TRAFFIC ALERT UPDATE: Harbor Avenue reopened after police shutdown while clearing stunt drivers from Don Armeni Boat Ramp (updated Sunday night)

8:36 PM: If you’re seeing/hearing the police response at Don Armeni Boat Ramp, police called for backup to break up a reported crowd of at least 100 stunt drivers. They’re ordering them to disperse, and declaring the park now closed to the public. They’re also blocking Harbor Avenue in the Don Armeni vicinity to facilitate the “clearing out,” officers are telling dispatch.

9 PM: Police say only a few are left, so they’re reopening Harbor Avenue.

ADDED 10:12 PM SUNDAY: We requested SPD narrative on the only incident # we could find on the data map clearly related to this; it tells just part of the story, though, mostly about the woman a commenter mentioned seeing taken into custody. Here’s the narrative, with XXXXX redactions by police – it starts with “remarks” regarding what they were told by dispatch:

REMARKS: REVVING ENGINES, POSS DRAG RACING, NO VISUAL, NO MENTION OF WEAPNS, ON WITH ANOTHER PERSON REPORTING THIS, SAID THERE ARE 500+ PEOPLE

At approximately 2015 hours, I was on a call at 1228 HARBOR AV SW (BOAT RAMP)

As I was pulling into the boat ramp for directed patrol, I observed a Maroon GMC Sierra WA-XXXXXXXX doing burnouts and racing doughnuts while I was patrolling the boat ramp.

I initiated a traffic stop on the same vehicle located at 1228 Harbor Av Sw. I contacted the driver who identified herself as XXXX XXXXX XXXX DOB XX/XX/1998. As I requested the driver for her license and proof of insurance, she provided me with her license and stated that she did not have insurance due to the vehicle being new. Records check revealed that XXXX was clear and current with a current license.

I advised XXXX the reason why I conducted a traffic stop, and she stated that she knew and that she would never do it again.

As I waited for my backing officers to arrive due to the large gathering of people, I observed two toddlers in the back seat of the pickup truck. The vehicle was doing burnouts while the toddlers were seated in the back seat of the vehicle.

As My backing officers arrived, I requested XXXX to step out of the vehicle for further investigation. I advised XXXX that what she did was dangerous especially with two toddlers in the back seat.

I advised XXXX that she was going to be placed into custody. I placed XXXX into custody, and I read her Miranda rights. I requested for a female officer to search XXXX, but due to the large group of people and vehicles we needed to clear the scene for officers safety, so I searched XXXX incident to arrest.

Officer XXXX advised me that one of the witnesses stated that they witnessed the whole thing. The unknown witness stated that while the vehicle was doing burnouts, he stated that he saw a male subject drive the vehicle. Then when the officer pulled over the vehicle XXXX and the unknown male subject switched seats before the officer approached the vehicle.

I asked XXXX if she was the one driving the vehicle and XXXX stated that she did even before I initiated a traffic stop.

Sgt. XXXX arrived on scene and screened the incident at the scene.

I transported XXXX to SW Precinct for further processing. Due to XXXX’s cooperation, she was released from the SW Precinct without further incident.

61 Replies to "TRAFFIC ALERT UPDATE: Harbor Avenue reopened after police shutdown while clearing stunt drivers from Don Armeni Boat Ramp (updated Sunday night)"

  • Ferns May 31, 2025 (8:44 pm)

    That is a crazy huge crowd for a dangerous activity. Would love to see how 100 drivers even fit into that area! I hope they cite all of them. Not nice for the neighborhood and visitors. 

    • Alki resident May 31, 2025 (9:50 pm)

      Not nice for the neighborhood? Quite a few live in the neighborhood actually and are from here. 

      • Ferns June 1, 2025 (12:58 am)

        Well if you are one of these criminals, I suggest you stop participating in stunt driving events. Bystanders have been killed at similar events, sideshows. 

        • Alki resident June 1, 2025 (3:23 am)

          Fern stunt drivers aren’t criminals, they’re working class citizens like the rest of us and out having a good time. They don’t go around shooting up the neighborhood or do drugs. They’re actually a great group of people. Just because you don’t like something, doesn’t make them criminals..

          • Mike June 1, 2025 (11:14 am)

            “Fern stunt drivers aren’t criminals” You’re correct, real stunt drivers aren’t criminals, they’re professionals.  These are not stunt drivers, these are idiots in cars.  Real stunt drivers look down on these idiots.  Real stunt drivers get huge paychecks from studios and sponsors, and do their stunts in controlled legal locations.  Idiots just need to go to jail, be fined and have their cars impounded.

          • Alki resident June 1, 2025 (1:13 pm)

            Mike you are so beyond incorrect. Some of these kids were actually influenced in person by local stunt riders and stunt riders from out of state who come here and do rides with them. Your misinformation isn’t helping here. People that actually know what they’re talking about have commented here too. These are local guys and many live in our community. I’ve literally been to their shops and watched them build their cars. It’s a car club and they don’t cause trouble. They’re generous to each other and there is nothing to fear about them. 

      • True North June 1, 2025 (1:10 am)

        Don’t know where you are getting your information but you are incorrect. I live here. None of these stunt drivers are residents. Most aren’t even from  Seattle. .

        • Alki resident June 1, 2025 (3:24 am)

          You live here so therefore they don’t? Looks like you’re not aware where everyone resides. 

        • Crop June 1, 2025 (7:23 am)

          @True North how do you know?

        • Westseattlebornnraised June 1, 2025 (11:32 am)

          You couldn’t be more wrong . Born and raised here still live in my family home of almost 100 years. Most of these guys were locals . The car community is amazing good people one bad seed did a burnout and ruined it for everyone. 

          • SJB June 1, 2025 (3:44 pm)

            Technically it was 2 burnouts, the truck did not see SPD vehicle coming into the lot. But the female in that truck was handcuffed and taken away for some reason. The 11 SPD cars seemed excessive but the dispersed the scene quickly. It was the most chaotic I have seen yet, cars going in the wrong direction etc, with lots of pedestrians. The second burnout almost hit a guy in a wheel chair so that pretty much ended the ‘show’ bc the cop saw it. 

      • 22blades June 1, 2025 (6:22 am)

        C’mon. None of them are from here…

  • Look Both Ways May 31, 2025 (9:12 pm)

    Glad SPD is on it. But Instead of “ordering them to disperse”, how about ticketing and impounding? Losing your vehicle is a powerful deterrent.

    • WSB May 31, 2025 (9:20 pm)

      That’s what the warning was, stop it, get out, or else their cars will be towed and impounded. They had to be warned first that the park was closed and they were trespassing. (The park isn’t usually closed this early.)

  • Neighbor May 31, 2025 (9:31 pm)

    Is this why the whole neighborhood smells like burning rubber? Posting from the Alaska Junction.

  • ST May 31, 2025 (9:35 pm)

    Would be cool to block the exits and impound every last car there.  

    • Michael Reitz June 1, 2025 (8:27 am)

      I agree no warnings or coddling just line the cars up and call every tow truck in the city to the boat launch and impound the vehicles immediately. This $1000 expense will get their attention quickly along with a $500 ticket from SPD. SPD do your job, it’s what the people of Seattle expect. 

  • TAnderson May 31, 2025 (9:43 pm)

    Scary situation with so many out of control people. The first SPD officer arriving found themselves in the middle of this all alone. Thankfully several additional officers arrived and calmed it all down

    • Alki resident June 1, 2025 (1:20 pm)

      They found themselves alone? What was the threat exactly?

  • B May 31, 2025 (9:54 pm)

    Referencing these people as ‘stunt drivers’ almost seems like it legitimizes their actions.  As if they’re just out there practicing their trade.  If I were a professional stunt driver I would feel insulted that these reckless and dangerous drivers share my job title.

    • Pinto June 1, 2025 (8:29 am)

      Totally agree. Stunt drivers are professionals. These are reckless drivers. Was anybody trying to use the boat ramp as intended during this?I have been contemplating getting a 20 foot sailboat and trailer but when I hear these kinds of events taking place – where I would put in – it’s dissuading

      • DeadEnder June 1, 2025 (8:59 am)

        Don’t get your knickers in a twist. YOU with a day sailer will use the ramp in… daytime. These folks think they are all stealthy, with license plates, and make noise at night.

  • Keith May 31, 2025 (10:03 pm)

    Could that be what has caused a weird burning plastic/rubber smell to fill the air?  I’m near Holy Rosary and it’s pretty bad.

  • Kalo May 31, 2025 (10:10 pm)

    Good on SPD for putting a quick stop to this bothersome, and potentially dangerous, situation. This kind of response (there were 10 police vehicles) so early in the season, indicates to those raising cain, that their behavior will not be tolerated. Hopefully SPD will continue this kind of quick and forceful response.

    • WSB May 31, 2025 (10:12 pm)

      Would have been even more – they were calling in backups from other precincts but called them off when they felt it was under control.

  • Rhonda May 31, 2025 (10:50 pm)

    Now SDOT will put even more speed bumps in the Don Armeni parking lot because one bone-jarring, suspension-wrecking bump every 30 feet just isn’t enough.

    • Coop June 1, 2025 (7:07 pm)

      If you drove slower the bumps would be less jarring. Pretty straightforward.

      • Rhonda June 2, 2025 (12:44 pm)

        Coop, anyone who has ever had to drive a large, empty boat trailer over those USELESS bumps will tell you they’re only good for wrecking things. Those bumps didn’t stop the punks from doing burnouts that evening or any other reckless driving in the parking lot.

  • Junction resident May 31, 2025 (11:57 pm)

    Sounds like they just came back and moved up to the junction area. Sound of cars doing donuts and reving like crazy. 

  • Kyle June 1, 2025 (12:33 am)

    Oh wait, so the Parks board voting to close this park and Alki an hour early to everyone didn’t stop this behavior? 

  • EJ June 1, 2025 (1:55 am)

    This modifying of cars (including prohibited muffler mods), and the related reckless driving behavior, needs to be cracked down on. It’s blatantly illegal, and SPD needs to put more resources into curbing this dangerous behavior before someone gets killed.

    • Rhonda June 1, 2025 (4:20 am)

      No, modifying cars is not illegal and it doesn’t lead to this kind of behavior. This is juvenile-level entitlement fueled by alcohol, drugs, and testosterone.

      • CoalRoller? June 1, 2025 (6:23 pm)

        Modifying cars is indeed legal if you want to tow  your vehicle to a race track.  

        But many modifications such as those prohibited muffler modifications make the vehicle no longer street legal.  

      • Rhonda June 2, 2025 (9:00 pm)

        There are literally thousands of performance modifications people can do to their cars that are perfectly legal. You’d have to check 200+ enthusiast’ cars parked at Alki to find one with an illegal modification. Idiots can and do drive recklessly in factory-stock cars. Funny how 2 morons doing donuts in a parking lot means that the ~100 other drivers parked there are somehow “stunt drivers”.

  • Marcus June 1, 2025 (5:33 am)

    Ahh, just a bunch of fun loving kids having a social outing and bonding experience. Warms the heart, wrong. This was clearly an illegal activity. Yes I agree the police need the resources to impound the cars. City Counsel needs to pass a law, or the police need to enforce an existing law, that such demonstrations are subject to impound of autos. Want to see this stop??? Start impounding the little noise makers, ha! Like to see the faces as they watch their autos towed away, hehe!

    • Westseattlebornnraised June 1, 2025 (11:36 am)

      Kids most of us are adults . And nothing “illegal” was happening. Car enthusiasts can’t just park and talk without people like you getting bent out of shape . This was not racing nor a takeover those people come out in the middle of the night . 

    • Rhonda June 1, 2025 (12:35 pm)

      Marcus, that’s not going to happen in Seattle. City officials will simply go after law-abiding motorists, fishermen, and beach users, instead. They’ll install more speed bumps, lock more gates, close public spaces earlier, tax parking spots, install cameras to monitor Alki residents and joggers, etc.

  • 22blades June 1, 2025 (6:33 am)

    The pandemic saw an explosion of street racing, drifting & all sorts of activities endangering people. Real drivers track. Why not have endorsed racing at a controlled site where drivers & spectators are safe? One example of law enforcement sanctioned racing is in St. Louis called “Midnight Madness”. As SEMA (Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association) says; “If you want to race, go to the track.”

  • k June 1, 2025 (7:31 am)

    It never ceases to surprise me, the stark difference in how SPD responds to crowds doing illegal stunts versus crowds of protesters.  Maybe they should try giving street racers the protester treatment.

    • Question Authority June 1, 2025 (10:20 am)

      If the drivers started throwing things and breaking down barricades then there would be a similar response, one was permitted and one not, so your point is?

      • k June 1, 2025 (7:58 pm)

        You’re telling on yourself, that you’ve only read about protest responses and have no real experience with them, when you talk about protesters “breaking down barricades” lol.  The point is that police have said more than once that they can’t manage the large crowds that come with illegal street racing/stunting, so that’s why all of the illegal activity goes unpunished and unaddressed beyond asking to disperse and closing the street.  Meanwhile all of the rubber bullets, tear gas, and other non-lethal weapons are at the ready and quickly deployed against hundreds of people at a time the second one person in a protest crowd so much as waves an unlit candle.  The stunters are clearly breaking the law, but are treated with a level of patience and given wide latitude even though SPD is clearly able to engage crowds.  It’s biased policing, and it makes our community less safe.

        • Question Authority June 1, 2025 (9:21 pm)

          You are trying to compare two absolutely different scenarios, an organized protest is clearly planned and the Police have time to mobilize, the street racing are pop up events and dynamic.  I was referring to the latest cluster at Cal Anderson and how it went due to the violent actions of counter protesters and anarchists.  

          • k June 2, 2025 (7:54 am)

            You’re really grabbing at straws.  The police are able to control crowds, but choose to do more in some situations than others and it makes our community less safe.  You may be okay with those choices and accept the reduction in community safety because of your personal biases, but I am not.  I just want police to do things in a way that makes me safer and I don’t feel like that’s too much to ask.

          • Question Authority June 2, 2025 (3:10 pm)

            You continue to disregard the reality of planning versus responding, I’m not discounting the need for Police intervention but events that spontaneously erupt happen and mobilization takes time and staffing.

  • Seattlite June 1, 2025 (7:45 am)

    THANK YOU, SPD!!!!

  • Pookie June 1, 2025 (7:59 am)

    Asked them to disperse while simultaneously limiting access to Alki (a public park) for the law abiding tax paying citizens… Hey Seattle, are you catching on yet? These curfews, speed bumps, parking restrictions, etc are not about “safety,” it’s a land grab to enrich the Uber wealthy condo owners on Alki compliments of the elitist council member SAKA. Wake up! 

    • Marcus June 1, 2025 (11:26 am)

      Bogus!

    • Alki resident June 1, 2025 (5:44 pm)

      Bingo, this is just happening in a turtles pace so we don’t notice. The locals notice

  • Mike June 1, 2025 (8:20 am)

    I assume one of them was the driver who did donuts at the Schmitz Elementary parking lot.

  • Emm June 1, 2025 (9:09 am)

      Alki is a wonderful park—a real treasure.It is also a residential area with law abiding tax paying citizens who love this city. Families,friends,exercisers,old and young use this area.What it should not be is a dangerous criminal raceway. These are not youthful joy riding youngsters just having fun.They are illegally competing against each other to see who can go the fastest,make the most noise and do the most death defying actions.Please make it stop.It ruins our beautiful city park.

  • Westseattlebornnraised June 1, 2025 (11:39 am)

    Illegal activity ???? We were literally parked talking . Our cars are legal and registered. We are also law abiding citizens who had a car meet with no racing no takeover literally just parked talking to our community. 

    • Marcus June 1, 2025 (1:56 pm)

      Reported as “stunt drivers” and burning rubber from WSB commenters. Hmmm, seems like a welcome legal activity to those who would believe that. Sounds like a tremendous rationalization to me. The word is in the dictionary.

    • CoalRoller? June 1, 2025 (6:29 pm)

      I believe the area of the boat launch is for boat launch only.  Do the car meet people pay a launch and parking fee? 

    • Hammer in Hand June 1, 2025 (7:41 pm)

      Except this park is a boat launch to be used for that soul purpose. Unless you are launching or retrieving a boat. Your not to be in that “park”

      • Alki resident June 2, 2025 (8:55 pm)

        Hammer, since when is it boat launch only? Been here all of my life and that’s never been a thing. There’s plenty of people that park and walk along the path, use the restroom and walk on the dock. There’s never been restrictions to be boats only. 

  • GreenLakesLover June 1, 2025 (2:00 pm)

    It doesn’t take much imagination to envision the premiere hub for cars with modified exhaust systems that SDOT’s proposed 150 “contiguous” waterside parking spaces will create.  It’s an even better parking lot than Don Armeni, offering more amenities such as unlimited hours and a longer layout that’s difficult to patrol.  Alki will be dominated in the late afternoon/evening hours by even more vehicular activity: cruising with car shows, excessive noise from modified exhaust systems and dangerous vehicular stunts.  With Alki officially in the category of an “attractive nuisance” more negative consequences will surely follow as responsible park users are discouraged from visiting, local business suffer financially and the livability of residents is impacted by excessive noise, air pollution and physical danger from vehicular stunts, trespassing onto their properties for toilet use, etc. etc.  

  • CoalRoller? June 1, 2025 (6:35 pm)

    The contiguous parallel parking does not draw the same groups.  
    They prefer parking lots and angled spaces. 

  • WSB June 1, 2025 (10:19 pm)

    Added police narrative above, though it appears to be mostly related to why a woman was detained, as mentioned in the comment below by SJB.

  • BG June 2, 2025 (9:45 am)

    I’m glad that SPD responded to this. I use the Don Armeni boat a lot to launch my boat at least 40 -50 times per year. I pay for the annual launch permit from Seattle parks and recreation. I dread launching there on a warm summer afternoon because I know the car people will be there when I return in the evening.Quite often on those warm summer evenings they are blocking the ramp area while they pose their cars for instagram photos at the waters edge.Those of us with trailers are forced to try to go around them or just wait and endure the hostile attitude. And it is hostile.Once you pull your boat out then you have to maneuver through the crowded parking lot while they are doing burnouts. Nobody will get out of your way. Of course boaters like me have paid to use the park. Car people have not paid and are not allowed in the boat  trailer parking area anyway.It is an extremely frustrating experience. However I have noticed SPD presence at Don Armeni over the last year which I am grateful for.I hope they keep it up this summer.

    • CoalRoller? June 2, 2025 (1:53 pm)

       This could al be solved if SPD Parking Enforcement cruised the lot ticketing vehicles without the required payment or permit.  

      Seattle’s Atlantic City Boat Ramp next to Beer Sheva Park  is smaller and even more intimidating with aggressive parking, loud  partying and some sort of dealing  out of parked cars.

      Trying to navigate illegally parked cars while backing a boat trailer is particularly  stressful and irritating after paying $12 for the privilege ($150 year pass).

      Simple SPD attention citing and rousing these vehicular scofflaws would return our boat launches to those that they were built for, use, and pay for them. 

  • LPM June 2, 2025 (12:35 pm)

    That is some fine parenting.  Good Grief.  What happened to the toddlers if mom was arrested?

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