Lincoln police say they shut down a roaring late-night sideshow last Saturday after an estimated 40 to 50 vehicles packed into the Venture Drive industrial area, with drivers whipping through donuts, staging speed contests and motorcycles tearing around recklessly. Officers ultimately cited four people and impounded three vehicles as they broke up the gathering, using drones to track the action before moving in and coordinating with neighboring agencies to clear the streets.
According to CBS Sacramento, calls started coming in Saturday night about the crowd of vehicles on Venture Drive, where officers arrived to find both cars and motorcycles performing stunts. Lincoln police said Rocklin police, the California Highway Patrol's Auburn office and the Placer County Sheriff's Office backed them up when they moved to break up the sideshow. In all, four people were cited and three cars were hauled off to the impound lot.
What the law allows
State lawmakers have recently expanded the toolbox for officers dealing with organized street takeovers and sideshows, spelling out exactly what counts as a vehicle sideshow and allowing seizure and impoundment in many situations. The legislation also opens the door to treating cars used in sideshows as public-safety nuisances, which can lead to forfeiture, license restrictions and other penalties. See AB 74 for the bill text.
Regional crackdown
Across Northern California, law enforcement has been rolling out coordinated sweeps this spring and early summer as the warm weather brings more large-scale car meetups. Local reporting has tracked multi-agency details that have netted dozens of impounds and hundreds of enforcement contacts in nearby counties. As Hoodline coverage has noted, agencies are leaning on impounds and citations to undercut the social-media spectacle that helps these events go viral.
What to do if you see one
Police say sideshows are dangerous for drivers and spectators alike and can attract other crimes along with the tire smoke. The safest move for anyone who stumbles onto one is to clear the area and call it in to law enforcement rather than hanging around to watch. Officials say they are banking on seizures and citations to discourage repeat takeovers while they continue broader investigations into organizers and frequent participants.
