If you live in the Bay, you’ve likely heard the screech of tires as cars drift in circles around parking lots or intersections crowded with onlookers. Reckless driving — including in a sideshow — is already illegal, but Alameda County may criminalize those who go to watch the drivers as well.
Alameda County Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez and Board of Supervisors president Nate Miley introduced an ordinance at a meeting Tuesday that would make it a crime to attend a sideshow. They wrote in a letter to the board that the ordinance would "provide law enforcement with another tool to stop and prevent sideshows and reduce risk.”
But Tyler Dragoni, a high school teacher who gave public comment at the meeting, disagreed, saying the definition of a spectator was “far too broad” and the law would give police authority to arrest anyone who happened to be nearby.
“A major civil liberty is being flippantly legislated away,” Dragoni said at the meeting.
The board did not vote on the ordinance. Tya Modeste, a spokesperson for the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, said via text message that the agenda item has been put on hold and should be on the agenda again “in a couple of weeks.” Modeste said the sheriff’s office does not have any comment on Dragoni’s concern at this time.
