Hot-rod scofflaws fuel danger, violence in illegal takeovers of U.S. streets

Hot-rodders have gone from burning rubber on desolate roads to taking over streets in major cities, and they are daring police to stop them.

Officials in communities from Philadelphia to Los Angeles struggle to corral late-night “sideshows,” in which drivers block off thoroughfares and intersections to perform smoke-filled burnouts, winding doughnuts and other dangerous and noisy stunts.

The illegal, “Fast & Furious” style street exhibitions have become so problematic in Maryland that state police formed a task force this year to crack down on the takeovers.

“Our law enforcement partners go out there and not only try to shut down these illegal driving events but also try to find those who are the perpetrators of organizing these events,” said Maryland State Police spokeswoman Elena Russo.

Motorists or pedestrians caught in the takeovers can be harassed or worse, and businesses and residents are regularly trapped until police arrive.

Maryland is taking a more robust law enforcement response to hot-rodders’ characteristically brazen promotion and staging of events.

Gatherings are advertised on social media and are documented by camera crews. Spectators often start fires and shoot off fireworks to complement the action.

Maryland State Police say the task force implemented this summer has made arrests on disorderly conduct and reckless and negligent driving charges, and officials have found illegal guns.

Dozens of sideshows have been broken up in the past month, mainly in cities along the Interstate 95 corridor connecting the District of Columbia to Baltimore.

Two men from Virginia’s Tidewater region were arrested on several gun charges just outside Baltimore late last month.

Filmmaker Yakpasua Zazaboi said the testosterone-fueled urge to do something “edgy and exciting” is powering the allure of wild takeovers. In the early 2000s, Mr. Zazaboi made a documentary about the sideshows and their place in California’s car culture, often credited with the hot-rod resurgence.

The National Conference of State Legislatures noted the role of the pandemic lockdown era, which emptied urban and suburban roadways. Bored, mostly young “gearheads” quickly took advantage by turning deserted late-night streets into muscle-car playgrounds.

Mr. Zazaboi called sideshows “the most popular motorsports event in the country.”

Mixing illegal guns with the exuberance from the sideshows’ predominantly young men has produced deadly outcomes.

Sacramento police said two people were gunned down at two sideshows last month.

During a July takeover in Los Angeles, a 15-year-old boy was shot dead and another teen wounded after the boys witnessed a robbery at the illegal car meet, authorities said.

Guillermo Caballero, 20, was fatally shot in May when a mob surrounded his car as he tried to drive around a sideshow, Chicago police said.

Onlookers and participants at the takeovers, which can easily attract crowds of 100, often become confrontational with police.

Officers responding to nearly a dozen sideshows in Philadelphia last month had their patrol cars attacked.

A similar story played out in Indianapolis last month when a group of men threw road signs and cones at police cruisers. Authorities said one person fired shots into the air before speeding off.

Dozens of belligerents last month jumped onto a Cleveland police officer’s squad car and beat on its hood.

“They’re not just a bunch of kids doing doughnuts,” San Diego Police Sgt. John Ampol told the “Police1” podcast this year. “There are so many ancillary crimes that they were involved in on top of what they were doing with these sideshows.”

The stunts themselves are inherently dangerous.

Three people were hit by a spinning car during an April sideshow in Portland, Oregon.

That same month in Los Angeles, a woman was knocked unconscious while taking a selfie after a spinning car lost control and slammed into her.

Los Angeles was also where Elyzza Guajaca was killed in a crash on Christmas. Police said the driver involved fled the scene.

The sideshows often dissipate as soon as authorities arrive.

Philadelphia Deputy Police Commissioner Michael Cram said in September that trying to arrest anyone at the takeovers is like playing “a game of ‘Whac-A-Mole.’” He said participants “just move from one location to another.”

Legislators are giving law enforcement more tools to contain the takeovers.

State lawmakers in Connecticut introduced a bill this year that would suspend or outright revoke the driver’s license of anyone caught participating in sideshows.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signed multiple bills into law last month to allow police greater latitude to seize and impound vehicles linked to the sideshows.

This month, Cleveland City Council introduced a bill to ban burnouts and doughnuts and allow police to confiscate steering wheels and tires of drivers participating in the exhibitions.

“We need to get the attention of these street outlaws who think this is the Wild, Wild West and they can do anything they like on our Cleveland roads and parking lots,” said Ward 8 council member Michael Polensek.

In California, Oakland City Council member Noel Gallo has worked for years to give the sideshow drivers a space to perform that isn’t a public nuisance.

One area Mr. Gallo suggested was the Oakland Coliseum parking lot, but neighbors objected over expected noise issues.

Mr. Zazaboi said local politicians should work with promoters to find solutions instead of treating sideshows as law enforcement matters.

He said more laws criminalizing drivers and spectators won’t squelch a natural youthful instinct to challenge authority.

The filmmaker suggested regulated legal pit events, where motorists test one another’s skills.

Legal pits essentially give drivers an asphalt lot to do everything they already do illegally at neighborhood intersections. Mr. Zazaboi called unregulated takeovers an “absolute … nightmare” for people living near the sites.

The rebellious nature of the upstart motorsport should look familiar, the filmmaker said, because NASCAR has its roots in Prohibition-era bootleggers.

As for the “knuckleheads” who bring weapons to the shows, Mr. Zazaboi said it’s unfair to let a handful of criminals shade perceptions of sideshows.

“I used to be out at sideshows for well over a decade. I never carried a damn gun in my life. People had kids out there, all that kind of stuff. So, it wasn’t the culture that was doing it. It was certain individuals that were doing it.”