Santa Rosa sideshow enforcement nets 4 arrests, 18 citations
SANTA ROSA -- Police in Santa Rosa on Sunday confirmed that recent sideshow activity enforcement led to a number of arrests and 18 citations, according to authorities.
On Friday, Santa Rosa police were tipped off about a possible sideshow was going to occur at the intersection of West Avenue and Sebastopol Road early that evening. Shortly after 6:30 p.m., officers observed large crowds of people and cars at that intersection -- which is not uncommon for the area -- but there was no immediate sideshow activity.
Officers continued to monitor the situation over the next several hours. Shortly before 9 p.m., a police sergeant driving his patrol car east on Sebastopol Road had a beer bottle thrown at his vehicle as he went through the intersection at West Avenue. The bottle smashed on the hood of the car, just missing his open driver side window.
As the sergeant continued to drive away from the intersection, several vehicles entered the intersection and began sideshow activity. A short time later, the vehicles pulled back into the parking lot north of the intersection. The gathered crowd that grew to at least 200 pedestrians at times blocked the roadway to allow more vehicles to enter the intersection from the parking lot and perform additional sideshow stunts before returning to the parking lot.
The Santa Rosa Police Department requested mutual aid from neighboring agencies to respond to the escalating behavior. 20 officers from six different agencies -- including the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department, Santa Rosa Junior College Police, Sonoma State Police, Petaluma Police, Cotati Police, and the California Highway Patrol -- responded to assist.
The Sonoma County Sheriff's helicopter also responded to the scene to monitor activity. While the helicopter was overhead, several subjects began to shine laser lights at the helicopter.
Once mutual aid from the allied agencies arrived, officers saturated the area and began making enforcement stops on vehicles, with the crowd often throwing rocks and bottles at the officers and their patrol cars during the stops. More sideshow activity occurred during the incident at the intersection of West Avenue and Sebastopol Road, with officers attempting to stop those vehicles before they sped off when possible.
The activity continued until just past midnight. A total of 54 traffic stops were made with 18 citations issued. Six vehicles were towed with three of those vehicles being impounded for 30-days. Four arrests were made, authorities said. One of the arrests occurred after an intoxicated driver hit a patrol car as the officer was driving in the area, but there were no injuries in the collision and the patrol car only sustained minor damage.
Additionally, officers were able to note several license plate numbers on to the department's traffic unit for follow up that could lead to vehicles being towed for sideshow activity. Anyone with information about people who participated in the activity is asked to contact the Santa Rosa Police Department.
