LONDON, ONT. -- The leaders of a south London church say they won’t be filing charges after a large gathering of cars coated a portion of their parking lot with rubber.
Early in May there was a large gathering of cars doing burnouts and donuts in the parking lot of Forest City Community Church at 3725 Bostwick Rd.
Now, with the help of London police, church leaders were able to meet with two of the drivers involved.
Senior Pastor Rob Hogendoorn says the two individuals apologized for what happened, explaining that it was a gathering to honour a friend who died that day and that it got out of hand.
Hogendoorn says the meeting lasted about half an hour, “I just thought I'd reach out to them and find out a little bit about how they're doing personally. And instead of getting damages and all that, I thought, 'Maybe we can actually help.'
"So I asked a little about the man and if there's something maybe the church can do to even help the family a bit. I think what we're going to be able to do is contribute to his headstone, costs and things like that. I just thought the best thing to do was to reach out to these people."
The church decided not to press charges or ask for those involved to pay for repairs.
Instead, they've offered to hold a car cruise-in memorial service for their friend once COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.
