East Bay law enforcement agencies have a warning for any sideshow drivers looking for a third Sunday of spinning donuts in Oakland. A crackdown is coming as police are deploying a new strategy to quell dangerous displays of reckless driving.
For the last two Sundays, crowds of spectators shut down 42nd Avenue and International Boulevard in East Oakland as drivers spun donuts, fishtailed and passengers were ghostriding or car surfing. The crowd was estimated at 1,000 people, according to law enforcement.
“There weren’t enough officers to even begin to deal with something like this,” Alameda County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Ray Kelly said.
On this past Sunday, a truck driver was carjacked at gunpoint, and his rig and a new $750,000 AC Transit bus were set on fire.
Related
The sheriff's department and Oakland Police officials are promising a more hard-line approach.
“They’re going to see a contingency of officers this weekend,” Oakland Police Department spokeswoman Johnna Watson said. “We’ll be deploying in our Mobile Field Force units and vans like we do when we see mass demonstration.”
City councilman Noel Gallo said people have gotten used to doing what they please in his neighborhood and it has to stop.
“If I can get away doing certain things, I’m going to do it,” he said of scofflaws in the Fruitvale district.
“We don’t enforce the laws and the rules,” Gallo said. “If you want to go down Foothill (Boulevard) at 80 mph, go ahead. Ain’t nobody going to stop you. Until somebody tickets you and cites you and enforces the law, my behavior will not change, and that’s real.”