'Unbelievably dangerous': Windermere residents concerned over all-night street racing

WINDERMERE, Fla. - People living in a community in Windermere say they can't sleep some nights, with loud cars racing down their streets and screeching their tires.

Residents tell FOX 35 News that cars come out several times a week and stay for hours, sometimes until 4 a.m.

"It’s unbelievably dangerous," said Kat Thomas. "Someone’s going to get hurt, killed, but also it’s just really annoying for the people that live here that we can’t sleep at night."

It's especially disruptive for Thomas, who is going through treatment for stage four cancer.

"To be waking up three, four, five, six times a night and hearing these loud screeching sounds where it almost sounds like a child is screaming because it’s that high-pitched squeal and I will wake up just in a panic," Thomas said.

Thomas believes the drivers might be teenagers who live in the area.

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Other neighbors worry one night it will end with a crash.

"If somebody’s speeding, it could happen real quick, because somebody could hit somebody going across an intersection or one of these crosswalks," said Maurice Taylor.

Some in the neighborhood are so fed up that they've started to call the sheriff's office.

They want a deputy to come out at night to witness what's going on.

"Make their presence known," Thomas said. "Show the kids that they can’t just keep doing this."

FOX 35 reached out to the Orange County Sheriff's Office Tuesday to ask about complaints from neighbors. The agency did not respond before the publication of this story.