CLEVELAND — Cleveland residents on the city's East Side said they waited close to two hours for police to respond after more than 100 teenagers blocked their street, blared music and trespassed on their properties during Memorial Day weekend.
Wanda Hill Chestnut said it happened at approximately midnight on May 25 outside her home on Raymond Avenue, which is near East 93rd Street.
At first, she said about 20 teenagers showed up. Then, the number grew to 40. Soon, she said, the crowd grew to more than 100 kids on the street.
"I'm just grateful that they weren't violent," she said. "If they were that outcome could have been horrible."
"They were just kids out of control," she said.
Her neighbor, David Hill, said some of the teens trespassed onto his driveway and refused to leave after he asked them to go home.
"One of the kids had a boombox on his car, and they were all in the middle of the street gyrating," he said. "Young girls. Had to be 16, 17. Drinking (alcohol.) It was unreal."
After the crowd grew, Hill Chestnut said she called police three times.
Other neighbors called for help, too.
However, she said it took nearly two hours for officers to arrive on her street and disperse the crowd.
"It feels like if we had a different zip code, we would have received a different response," she said.
"I am feeling disposable," she said. "I think disposable is the best word for me to use. "
Hill Chestnut also reached out to her councilman, Council President Blaine Griffin.
"This was one of the worst weekends," he said.
Griffin said kids creating chaos on the streets is an ongoing problem throughout the city.
"You're almost going have to set up a strategy and watch social media and try to use intelligence led policing in order to try to come up with the strategy to shut this down," he said.
Hill Chestunut said the city focused attention on the chaos at Playhouse Square over Memorial Day weekend at the same time she was waiting for officers to show up on her street.
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"We want the chandelier treatment, and we're receiving the streetlight treatment," Chestnut said.
News 5 reached out to Cleveland Police. A spokesperson said he would look into what happened on Raymond Avenue and why it took so long for police to respond.
News 5 recently reported that police response times are up from last year for both high and low-priority calls.
RELATED: Cleveland police taking longer to get to serious and less serious calls
