San Jose Sideshow Activity Intensifies as Police Crack Down; Local Residents 'Scared, Nervous'
SAN JOSE (CBS SF) -- In recent months, sideshow activity has become more brazen with people firing guns into the air -moving from the outskirts of the city to the heart of downtown San Jose.
"Scared, nervous, just for my vehicle that's parked downstairs," said Danielle Garello, a bartender at 4th Street Pizza Company. "You hear super loud cars, they kind of sound like motorcycles but it's also the lights. People have their brights on and they'll just go around and around, and you think that helps going to be on the way, but it just keeps going."
Garello lives and works near city hall and said the sideshow activity usually begins around midnight and can go until 4 am.
"I also worry about the girls that are walking to and from the sorority houses. I don't go to school here, but I serve a lot of them at this establishment, so it just makes you worry."
Houdini's Smoke Shop is a few doors down on East Santa Clara Street. Workers have recently witnessed sideshows right outside their business.
"Whenever the road gets blocked off for anything it really affects our business. Most of the time the sideshows happen late night too, around the bar and the club scene time, so a lot of those people end up stuck in that traffic and you just get drunk people with rowdy people all in the same area. It's not a good mix," said Essa Tokhi of San Jose.
Owner Naz Barak said in the last month and a half, he has witnessed two sideshows.
"Another one was right when you're getting to the 280 exit on 4th street. And I was caught up on that one for at least 20 minutes," he said.
On Saturday San Jose Police tweeted that officers responded to a sideshow in the parking lot at Capitol Expressway and Tully Road Friday night.
They towed 3 cars and cited about 10 other people. The department's message: "This dangerous and illegal activity is not welcome in our city. we will continue to respond with available resources."
