Oakland Police Plan Crackdown On Sideshow Activity This Weekend
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- Police in Oakland on Thursday announced plans to crack down on illegal sideshow activity in the city over the weekend.
The Oakland Police Department Twitter account posted that there would be "additional resources on the streets" to put a stop to sideshows in the East Bay.
"Violent, disruptive and illegal behavior will not be tolerated," the post stated.
Police said they would be arresting individuals, issuing citations and towing cars to deter the illegal activity.
Sideshows have been an issue across the Bay Area ever since the COVID-19 pandemic began last year.
Earlier in February, a San Jose neighborhood near the intersection of Hamilton and Leigh Avenue demanded police and city leaders come up with a plan to put the brakes on illegal sideshows that have woken up their community with the sound of squealing tires, fireworks and gunfire.
In late January, volleys of gunfire at an Oakland sideshow sent hundreds of spectators scrambling for safety as vehicles raced away from the scene.
Oakland police released video of the massive sideshow on Twitter. The mobile street race stopped at Fruitvale Ave./International Blvd. and W Grand/Telegraph Ave. Gunfire echoed in the background at both stops.
Oakland police report seeing an dramatic increase in the size and numbers of the recent sideshow gatherings.
A week before that incident, hundreds of people and vehicles participated in sideshow activity over course of an entire day that required multiple Oakland police officers to respond out of their districts.
Authorities on January 19th confirmed that a Stockton man was arrested on suspicion of murder after his passenger died while they were involved in a California Highway Patrol pursuit of a group of dirt bikers who created mayhem on the streets of Oakland, San Francisco and on the span.
Humza Zahoor, 20, has been booked into the San Francisco County jail in connection with the Sunday crash that killed 20-year-old Christopher Lee of Beaumont, Texas.
RELATED: San Francisco Dirt Bike Gang Mayhem Ends With Death On Bay Bridge
Oakland police said the sideshows began around noon with more than 300 All-Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) and dirt bikes driving recklessly throughout Oakland.
According to the CHP, officers initially responded just after 5 p.m. for a report of a sideshow involving as many as 15 dirt bikes heading toward the Bay Bridge.
When CHP patrol cars encountered the bikes on the bridge's eastbound lanes, the riders allegedly turned around and began heading in the wrong direction.
The riders then exited at the Sterling Street and Fourth Street off-ramps, traversed downtown San Francisco and re-entered the bridge the wrong way on the Fremont Street on-ramp, heading east on the upper deck of the westbound Bay Bridge.
Lee, who was part of the group of dirt bike riders, then crashed his bike near the Treasure Island ramp, prompting another biker from the group, later identified as Zahoor, to pick up Lee, CHP officials said.
As officers pursued the pair, Zahoor attempted to evade officers by trying to jump a median wall. Zahoor, however, crashed into the wall, causing Lee to be ejected onto the Bay Bridge, where a pickup truck struck and killed him.
