By Thaddeus Miller
The Fresno Bee
FRESNO, Calif. — Fresno’s city leaders said Wednesday they’ll introduce legislation to fine and potentially jail anyone who watches street racing, sideshows or other driving they called reckless.
The ordinance was co-sponsored by Councilmembers Annalisa Perea and Garry Bredefeld, and was placed on Thursday’s City Council agenda.
“This will never be tolerated in the city of Fresno,” Bredefeld said. “And anyone participating, promoting or attending will be fully held accountable.”
The citation comes with a $1,000 fine and a potential of six months in jail.
City leaders and law enforcement have given warnings before in Fresno after deadly car crashes they say were due to street racing and other dangerous driving.
An 18-year-old was killed while street racing midday Feb. 13 on Blackstone Avenue near San Jose Avenue when he collided with a truck not involved in the race, police said.
Then there was the street race the day after Christmas in 2020 that ended in a crash, killing four, according to police. An 18-year-old slammed into a car carrying three victims between the ages 17 to 27.
Beyond racing, police say, there are sideshows, when a group of drivers use cars and spectators to block off a street or intersection so drivers can spin donuts or do burnouts with their tires.
They can also happen on a blocked freeway or in a large parking lot.
One sideshow of about 100 cars was busted up at the intersection of Dan Ronquillo Drive and Roeding Drive on April 10, according to police. Between that event and others the same night, police said they wrote more than 65 tickets, impounded three dozen cars and made nine arrests.
The cities of Santa Rosa and Turlock adopted similar sideshow ordinances this year, and cities around the state have seen the events.
Fresno Police Chief Paco Balderrama said last year Fresno tallied 79 citations and arrests related to reckless driving, sideshows and street racing. There were 62 citations for aiding and abetting or blocking the roadway, and police impounded 441 cars involved last year.
He said the Fresno Police Department is on pace this year to surpass those numbers.
Balderrama said the events in Fresno are often advertised online and bring drivers in from out of town.
“They’re sharing information to social media. They are planning to meet up at certain intersections, a certain part of town, to basically partake in a hostile takeover of a parking lot, of a highway in some cases,” he said.
City leaders said the cases could pull the Fresno City Attorney’s Office to prosecute the misdemeanors. City Attorney Andrew Janz said that is not unusual, and he has prosecutors on his team.
Mayor Jerry Dyer said sideshows feature stunts without protection so they are dangerous to drivers and spectators.
“This ordinance is designed if you take away the spectator, if you take away the facilitator, if you take away the organizer, there’s a good chance we’re not going to have a site chosen in our city,” he said.
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