'Fast & Furious' coaster screams rattle quiet neighborhood: 'Like someone is getting murdered'

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Set us as preferred Leonard R.Garner Jr.

loves roller coasters.And the mostly-retired television director and actor has a place in his heart for Universal Studios Hollywood, the theme park atop the studio where he spent many days behind a camera.

He also adores the tranquility of his home.As a resident of Toluca Lake, the tiny neighborhood nestled below the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Super Nintendo World and other park staples, Garner watched with curiosity as Universal Studios began erecting Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift, its new outdoor, high-speed thrill ride.

He continued to track the construction over the next three or four years while out on afternoon walks.At last, when Universal Studios began testing the ride this spring, Garner breathed a sigh of relief.“I was amazed at how quiet it was,” he said.

“I could not hear it at all.”But he wasn’t considering one detail: There were no people on it.Everything changed, Garner and numerous other Toluca Lake residents said, the summer day when Universal Studios began running the coaster with a full slate of riders.

There were screams.They were loud — piercing even double-paned windows.

And they were constant.“Disturbing,” said one resident, Dr.

Christopher Zito.“You think something is happening,” said Patrick Nazari, another resident.“Like someone is getting murdered out there.” Garner said he stopped in his tracks.

“I heard it, and I thought to myself, ‘There are going to be problems with this.’”Headaches at least, both for the residents of Toluca Lake and for Universal Studios Hollywood in the days before the ride’s opening this summer.For residents, there’s panic as to what, if any, recourse they may have at this late stage, with one man joking he may forever have to blast loud music all day to mask rider screams.

For Un...