After people participating in a sideshow involving hundreds of vehicles early Saturday morning on Sept. 28 in the Hilltop District caused extensive damage to vehicles at a dealership, city leaders were called on to answer questions about the lack of enforcement of these illegal spectacles.
Although the issue did not come up at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, earlier that day Mayor Eduardo Martinez took to Facebook to defend his position on sideshows. Comments had been surfacing on Richmond-related online forums criticizing statements he had made in a 2021 council meeting about his desire to create a space in the city for sideshows to happen legally, with spectators able to watch.
“Let me be unequivocally clear: I do not support nor condone any unlawful activity in the City of Richmond,” he wrote on his Tuesday Facebook post. “Some have taken the opportunity to misinterpret my past comments on vehicle-related activity as approval of these dangerous actions. That could not be further from the truth. I am fully committed to ensuring that our city remains safe for all residents, businesses, and visitors.”
Martinez added that he is “cautious” about using the term sideshow as not every instance of a driver burning rubber is a sideshow. He added that the city is working on hiring additional personnel, deploying Flock cameras and that the police department would be working with neighboring agencies to try and develop a preventative plan.
“The recent incident here drew participants from as far away as Fresno, and our officers have recently cited and impounded vehicles from individuals who reside in the Central Valley and Sacramento. These events often move from city to city, and that’s why we need to work with neighboring cities and agencies at every level to address this issue comprehensively,” the statement reads.
According to police, the sideshow happened around 2:35 a.m. on Sept.28 at the intersection of Klose Way and Blume Drive.
A video circulated Instagram showed spectators pounding the windshields of trucks with their feet at the Hilltop Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram dealership.
Richmond police said several cars were damaged during the incident. “While dispersing the crowd, what was believed to be a beer can was thrown at a Richmond police vehicle, cracking the windshield,” Lynnelle Sanchez, public information officer for the Richmond Police Department, told Richmondside in an email. “Once the crowd was dispersed, officers determined that approximately nine vehicles from two different dealerships had sustained damage consistent with them being jumped on. The estimate is in the tens of thousands of dollars in vehicle damages.”
No arrests or citations were issued in the aftermath of the sideshow, Sanchez added.
During the Community Police Review Commission’s monthly meeting Wednesday night, Richmond Police Chief Bisa French echoed Mayor Martinez by emphasizing the need for a regional approach to sideshow deterrence. She said the sideshow had likely been in Hercules before coming to Richmond.
“Those people most likely came to the city of Richmond after that,” she said. She added that RPD called in back-up to neighboring law enforcement agencies after receiving reports of smoke coming from the dealership, along with shots fired.
“We had to call for mutual aid because we did not have enough officers. The officers came from El Cerrito, San Pablo and the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office to assist us with trying to get people out of our city, onto the freeway and out of the area,” French said.
According to Richmond Police Department dispatch report data analyzed by Richmondside, sideshow incidents within the city have dropped nearly 50% in recent years — from 129 in 2022 to 65 in 2023.
Sideshows spiked in Richmond during the height of the pandemic when the illegal events jumped from 39 in 2019 to 124 in 2020.
So far in 2024, as of Oct. 4, there have been 58 reported calls to Richmond police for sideshows.
