One of the four drivers allegedly involved in a chaotic street takeover in Boston’s Back Bay last year faced a judge on Wednesday.
Caden Basir, a 20-year-old man from West Boylston, Massachusetts, was held on $5,000 bail and a prior fugitive from justice warrant.
People in Back Bay still recall the intense drag race scene in the early morning hours of April 21, 2024.
“I do remember it was pandemonium situation out here,” said one resident who wanted to remain anonymous. “I saw the police had trouble getting in, and it looked dangerous, the way they were operating the cars in the intersections and so on.”
Video shows cars doing burnouts and other stunts in the residential intersections of Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood over the weekend. Police say the cars were speeding the wrong way down one-way streets, the occupants throwing things at police officers who tried to stop them.
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The drivers tore up the intersection at Dartmouth and Marlborough streets and other nearby areas, leaving roads coated with rubber from tires, and the nerves of neighbors shot.
Amanda Theocles lives near the intersection where it happened.
“There’s kids who live in the neighborhood, like young kids, and families,” she said. “So I was just like, ‘This is kind of ridiculous to do.'”
“It seems to have scared a lot of people,” said Jessica Sprague, who also lives in the neighborhood. “This is a quiet neighborhood, so you don’t hear anything at night. You don’t see anybody at night.”
Basir is charged with receiving a stolen motor vehicle, reckless operation of a motor vehicle, disturbing the peace, destruction of property, conspiracy and miscellaneous municipal motor vehicle violations.
According to prosecutors, Basir has a 10-page criminal record, including open gun charges out of Worcester and a fugitive from justice warrant in Connecticut.
Investigators connected Basir to this case after observing a distinct tattoo in a social media post about the race.
“Officers were able to compare the hand tattoos on the booking photograph as well as the video, and identified them to be the same tattoo,” said Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney Gianna Falso, who handled the case in Boston Municipal Court.
During the investigation, it became clear what happened at the intersection was not an isolated event. Police in several other towns had the similar calls within a couple of hours of this one.
Beginning just after midnight, police in Taunton, Brockton and Marlborough responded to similar calls before Boston’s call just after 2 a.m.
Basir is due back in court on Sept. 8 for a pretrial hearing.
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