Sideshows in Sacramento lead to arrests, impounded vehicles and 67 traffic stops
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- Police made 11 arrests, towed 11 vehicles and made 67 traffic stops at weekend sideshows.
- Sacramento police pursued some vehicles that refused to stop.
- Sideshows can shut down intersections, put bystanders at risk and cause property damage.
Officers arrested 11 people, had seven vehicles towed away for impounding and conducted 67 traffic stops over the course of several hours this past weekend as they responded to vehicle sideshows that took over intersections in Sacramento.
With help from officers in helicopters and patrol vehicles from assisting law enforcement agencies, officers pursued suspect vehicles that refused to stop, the Sacramento Police Department announced Tuesday in social media posts.
Police said officers issued citations and made arrests for charges related to sideshow activity and vehicle pursuits.
Sideshows are “illegal gatherings in which groups of drivers take over intersections, city streets, stretches of busy freeways and/or parking lots to do tricks with their cars, including burnouts and doughnuts,” The Sacramento Bee has previously reported.
Groups of spectators can reach into the hundreds, often blocking even more traffic lanes. Some sideshows go on for hours, while others clear out in minutes to avoid law enforcement.
The Police Department released surveillance camera video that captured some of the sideshow activity from Saturday evening through early Sunday.
One video shows a silver car spinning in circles in the middle of the Northgate Boulevard intersection with West El Camino Avenue intersection, showing a large crowd of spectators gathered along the crosswalks. Many of the spectators are seen holding up cellphone cameras to record the spinning car, including when police patrol vehicles rush in to stop the sideshow.
Police said other Sacramento intersections where sideshows occurred this past weekend included El Centro and San Juan roads in the Gateway West neighborhood, Fruitridge Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in the South Oak Park neighborhood, and Meadowview Road and 21st Street in the Meadowview neighborhood.
“Sideshow activity is illegal and poses serious dangers to participants, bystanders, and surrounding communities,” police said in Tuesday’s social media posts. “It can also result in significant property damage and disrupt neighborhoods. These dangerous stunts put innocent drivers, pedestrians and children at risk.”
This story was originally published January 13, 2026 at 12:59 PM.
