Sacramento City Council to vote on new rules to help crack down on sideshows
SACRAMENTO — Sacramento city leaders on Tuesday will consider passing new rules cracking down on sideshows. It comes as the number of street takeovers continues to grow.
Chaos erupted Sunday with 50 cars doing burnouts along West El Camino and Seamist Drive. Officers cited six people and arrested one after a high-speed chase.
"They've increased in frequency," City Councilmember Lisa Kaplan said. "They've increased in being exponentially more dangerous."
It's the same street where a man was shot and killed during another sideshow last September.
"We need to do something as a city," Kaplan said. "Our public is demanding it. Our community is demanding it."
Kaplan pushed the original ordinance but now wants to give police an added tool. Drones would capture license plates so officers could issue citations and tow away cars.
"An officer-manned drone can go in and take videos and those videos can be reviewed, and they can now use that as evidence for impounding a vehicle and holding it and using those videos to charge them," Kaplan said.
Anyone caught participating in a sideshow could have their car seized for a month.
"Thirty days without your car is a lot and the fines can be several thousand dollars," Kaplan said.
The new rules would also go after organizers of these street takeovers and spectators caught standing within 200 feet of the illegal activity.
Violators face misdemeanor criminal charges and up to $25,000 in civil penalties, with some of that money going toward fixing damaged paint and asphalt caused by burning rubber in the streets.
Sacramento police say they are also forming a new nighttime traffic safety team that will focus on stopping dangerous driving and sideshows.