Santa Rosa lawsuit against alleged sideshow organizers makes novel pollution argument
SANTA ROSA -- The city of Santa Rosa is taking on alleged sideshow organizers with a novel approach: suing them under the California Fish and Game code for polluting waterways with tire crumbs from reckless driving.
In a complaint filed July 7 against 13 males, the city alleges that the defendants "organized, promoted, and participated in" sideshows on public property, intentionally blocking streets and intersections to prevent police from approaching the scene. The complaint alleges that other motorists and emergency vehicles were also blocked.
Aside from allegedly organizing sideshows in Santa Rosa and driving recklessly, the city accuses the defendants of creating tire crumbs from their stunts that ended up in storm drains, which polluted Colgan and Roseland creeks.
Citing the Fish and Game code, the city says it is unlawful to deposit any petroleum, acid, coal or tar, aniline, asphalt, bitumen or residuary product of petroleum where it can end up in a waterway, or anything that is deleterious to fish, plant life, mammals or bird life.
The city alleges that they have tied people's nicknames and social media handles to the 13 people they are suing. The complaint outlines in detail how the defendants allegedly promoted sideshows on social media and by cellphones, even alleging that they used red herring information about where sideshows would take place and when to throw off suspicious or "Fed" accounts that they feared were spying on them.
The city won't comment on litigation, but Santa Rosa Police Chief John Cregan has vowed to "come together as a community" to eliminate sideshows and said that they have become a "rare occurrence" after his department and the city took a proactive approach, including arrests, citations, and the impounding of vehicles.
The city's suit also names John Does 1-100, which they claim are only known by their social media handles at this time, but are suing them by their fictitious names "and will amend this complaint to show their true names when ascertained."
None of the defendants in the case appear to have an attorney on record at this time.