Out-of-town ‘sideshows’ cause trouble in Fresno

The California Highway Patrol responded to several large “sideshows” in Fresno on Saturday night into Sunday morning, some involving over 100 cars, Sgt. Joseph Bianchi said.

The first call came in about 11:30 p.m. on Saturday for large setup at Central and Orange avenues, but crowds dispersed as soon as CHP appeared, Bianchi said. The same thing happened 30 minutes later at Clinton and Fowler avenues, and at midnight police showed up for a smaller crowd near Shaw and Highway 41. The last call came around 3:15 a.m. for a setup of about 100 cars on Shields Avenue, west of Highway 41, said Bianchi. No one was arrested and CHP did not make contact with the crowds.

A sideshow is a vehicle exhibition that usually takes place in intersections or parking lots of cities. Doughnuts and other stunts are performed before a crowd, which sometimes leads to violence. A sideshow in September 2016 using the hashtag #bay2Fresno ended with a CHP vehicle’s windows being smashed in and two Fresno men arrested.

Fresno police believe the sideshows set up on Saturday traveled from out of town, and Bianchi said it’s possible the vehicles in each incident were the same, moving to different areas of town.

This story was originally published May 14, 2017 at 1:31 PM with the headline "Out-of-town ‘sideshows’ cause trouble in Fresno."