Oakley Police Say Vehicle Attacked in Response to Sideshow Event, Firearm Recovered

On Saturday at approximently 9:30 pm, the Oakley Police Department responded to a report of sideshow activity involving an estimated 200 vehicles in the area of Sellers Avenue and E Cypress Road in the City of Oakley.

Upon arrival, an Oakley Police officer estimated around 60-vehicles in the area. At that point, the officer became surrounded by participants who then attacked the vehicle with one person even jumping on top of the vehicle and on its hood. The officer backed out and called for assistance. A gunshot was also fired.

According to Oakley Police Chief Paul Beard, the shot came from one of the participants and does not believe the shot was fired at the officer.

A short-time later, a vehicle crash occurred after a pursuit at Sellers and Riverrock at 9:45 pm involving a black BMW. The vehicle took off and was located a few blocks away where the vehicle was abandoned.

The incident shutdown a portion of E Cypress Road and Sellers while police were on scene investigating and searching for suspects who fled the vehicle.

According to Beard, no arrests were made, however, two vehicles were towed and suspects have been identified. Charges are being filed and sent to the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office.

Oakley Police were assisted by the California Highway Patrol and Contra Costa County Sheriffs Office.

UPDATE

Oakley PD Shuts Down Sideshow and Seeks the Community’s Assistance in the Investigation

Two individuals were detained following a large sideshow that occurred on Saturday night. “Sideshows are destructive and disrespectful to the moral fabric of the community,” Chief of Police Paul Beard stated.

“The Oakley Police Department takes the stance of enforcing all laws related to sideshow activities, including the impounding of vehicles associated with them. In this particular instance, we are grateful our officer was not injured, and he was able to rely upon his training to evade danger without anybody else being injured.”

On April 9, 2022, at 9:30 PM, Oakley police officers were dispatched to a sideshow occurring at Sellers Ave and East Cypress Road. The initial accounts reported as many as 200 vehicles and participants involved with the vehicles blocking traffic and doing doughnuts in the roadway.

The first responding officer observed modified vehicles doing doughnuts in the intersection and at least 60 persons out of their vehicles blocking the intersection in all directions to shut the road down and observe the vehicle operators’ criminal behaviors.

Upon seeing our initial presence, a few vehicles began to leave at high rates of speed and with disregard for other motorists in the area. As these vehicles left, a splinter group of sideshow observers approached our officer in his car. Our officer realized an attack upon him seemed imminent and attempted to accelerate and navigate around the crowd to avoid the attack. Our officer was able to maneuver out of the area without causing injury to others. Several sideshow observers did opt to attack our officer by jumping on the hood of his car and hitting the hood and windshield of his vehicle. Some sideshow observers tried to get into our officer’s vehicle by trying to open the driver’s side door to get to him. Our officer safely reversed his vehicle several hundred yards away and called for assistance even while attempting to evade this criminal behavior. A smaller crowd of sideshow observers chased after our officer on foot while he remained in his vehicle.

Upon the arrival of additional Oakley officers and with the assistance of Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office deputies, many of the sideshow participants spectators began to leave haphazardly and at high rates of speed. As law enforcement officers were coming into the area a single gunshot was heard being fired from the area of Sellers Ave and Riverrock Drive, some of the sideshow participants had relocated to. Officers began to pursue a black BMW, thought to have been involved in the sideshow and responsible for the gunshot, and attempted to block it in on Riverrock Drive. The BMW was able to reverse out of the area and flee at a high-speed rate onto Sellers Ave. The BMW was observed colliding into a white Subaru and fleeing again, but now had major front-end damage and a flat tire.

Officers checked on the welfare of the occupants of the Subaru and found a .40 caliber Glock handgun with an extended magazine and one fired shell casing on the ground in the adjacent area. The BMW was then located, unoccupied, on the street in an adjacent neighborhood. The operator/passengers of the BMW are unknown, but a follow-up investigation is being done on the registered owners, who reside in Pittsburg.

Two males from Sacramento and Elk Grove were questioned and detained. Both of these men stated they heard about this sideshow on social media. Formal charges for being spectators at a sideshow event are being sought against these men through the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office.

For reference, a sideshow is defined as dangerous and illegal gatherings in which groups of drivers take over intersections, city streets, stretches of busy freeways, and/or parking lots to do reckless driving maneuvers with their cars, including burnouts and doughnuts. Sideshows are illegal in and of themselves, but they are often punctuated and associated with far worse crimes such as shootings, stabbings, and vehicular assaults. In other instances, sideshows have resulted in unintentional maiming of people due to participants losing control of their vehicles and striking the observers, who are always close to the illegal driving behaviors.

The Oakley Police Department requests information from anybody who may know the participants’ identities, specific vehicles, coordinators, or any social media announcements related to this sideshow at 925-625-8060 or [email protected]