Police have seized a further two cars and identified a person they believe smashed the rear window of a police vehicle last week during a night of illegal burnouts and anti-social behaviour in Canberra.
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The additional vehicles - a Ford Falcon sedan and a Commodore utility - were impounded on Friday morning after police warned they would be scouring the social media posts from the incidents and looking to identify the vehicles and people involved.
A court summons for damage to Commonwealth property will be issued to the man accused of throwing a beer bottle through the back window of the marked police car on Friday evening in Fyshwick.
"We were grateful to receive a lot of information from Crime Stoppers and phone calls in to police operations as well as postings on social media," the officer in charge of City Station, Detective Inspector Adrian Craft said.
"The four [vehicle drivers] will be summonsed in relation to the manner of their driving and the person who threw the beer bottle ... will be summonsed to appear in court at a later date."
He said police were generally likely to hold the cars for up to a month, or even more, depending on the circumstances.
"It is one of the things to do to get the vehicles off the road but it's also a way of discouraging people from doing this sort of thing," he said.
"Hopefully people will take heed of the message that's been issued to them via the seizing of their vehicle and through their prosecution ... and the court process."
He said police investigations were ongoing and hopefully they could identify a number of other vehicles involved.
"It wasn't just four vehicles involved; there were a large number of vehicles involved," he said.
Under ACT legislation, a vehicle which is identified as doing an illegal burnout can be seized by police for up to three months. In NSW, the penalties are even harsher; cars are able to be seized and crushed.
The number of cars seized by ACT police following on from the events of Friday, January 8, now number four - including two Holden Commodores - with all the impounded cars held at the police holding yard at Mitchell.
Police were forced to close Lonsdale Street in Braddon and redirect traffic entering the area for two nights in an effort to discourage burnouts and other illegal driving behaviour, as huge crowds gathered in the area.
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Many then drove out to Eagle Hawk, just over the NSW border, where about 1000 people gathered and several large burnouts occurred before police intervened. Others drove to Fyshwick, where more burnouts occurred.
The customary Summernats street machine festival, which always includes an event known as the Burnout Masters, was canned this year due to COVID-related issues and restrictions. A downscaled version of Summernats planned for March was also cancelled this week due to ongoing COVID-related issues.
