East Bay Sideshow Crackdowns Yield Several Arrests, Citations, Towed Cars
ANTIOCH (CBS SF) -- Sideshow crackdown operations in Antioch and Oakland resulted in multiple arrests, citations and towed vehicles over the weekend.
A team of over 20 officers and deputies from East Bay law enforcement agencies conducted a bust of a large sideshow in Antioch on Saturday evening. About 75-100 vehicles, with almost double the amount of spectators, came to the parking lot of Somersville Town Center in Antioch, police said.
The same team also responded to a second location off Wilbur Avenue. In total, the team made 71 arrests, issued 14 citations and towed 26 vehicles for several violations, including reckless driving, trespassing, and exhibition of speed.
"We would like to thank all of the agencies that assisted us in making this operation a success and quelling this dangerous activity," Antioch police said in a Facebook post.
In Oakland through Sunday afternoon, police had arrested one person, issued 10 citations and impounded four cars involved in sideshows very early Sunday morning, centered in the area of 42nd Avenue and Interstate Highway 880, a locale sometimes referred to as "the pit."
Oakland police will have extra officers on duty through Monday night paying special attention to breaking up and warding off dangerous "sideshow" gatherings of rubber-burning cars and those who enjoy watching them.
About 100 cars were gathered there and then split up into several smaller gatherings in the area, Oakland police Officer Johnna Watson said.
Those four vehicles, Watson said, will be impounded for 30 days. "It will cost a couple of thousand dollars to get these cars out of 30-day hold," Watson said. Joining the OPD for this weekend's sideshow enforcement have been the California Highway Patrol and the Alameda County Sheriff's Office. The CHP lent a helicopter to the effort.
"We are able to quickly disrupt (the sideshows) by sending units to key locations in the city," Watson said.
The Oakland enforcement efforts have picked up since April 14, when sideshow participants at 42nd Avenue and International Boulevard set both a truck and a bus on fire.
"A lot of resources go to illegal sideshow enforcement - resources that could be used for other things," Watson said.
OPD has blocked off key intersections to deter illegal sideshow( accessible to first responders only)Surrounding roadways are open for our community and neighborhoods to access. We will be out here all night. pic.twitter.com/LCy65XYdkj
— Oakland Police Dept. (@oaklandpoliceca) September 2, 2019
The idea, Watson said, is to help drive sideshows out of town. "A majority of these people come from outside the City of Oakland to start illegal sideshows."
And they've become a regional issue, she said, with recent events in Vallejo, Richmond and unincorporated Martinez.
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