1 hurt in fall as cops break up big sideshow

A person plunged 50 feet from an elevated freeway offramp in Crockett early Sunday, suffering undisclosed injuries, as dozens of law enforcement officers broke up a large sideshow.

CHP Officer Sean Wilkenfeld said the sideshow was reported just before midnight Saturday, and the CHP, Contra Costa County Sheriff ’s Office and Hercules Police Department sent officers and a CHP helicopter to halt the informal — and illegal — demonstration of car stunts on the Interstate 80 onand off-ramps for Crockett, just south of the Carquinez Bridge.

When they arrived, they found a chaotic scene. About 100 cars and 300 people, many of them observers, lined the ramps above Pomona Street. Cars were parked along the ramps and fireworks were being set off, Wilkenfeld said. When officers arrived, participants fled.

As officers broke up the sideshow, Wilkenfeld said, one person fell or jumped from the westbound on-ramp to Pomona Street below. The CHP and Crockett-Carquinez Fire Department responded, and a medical helicopter was called to take the victim to a hospital.

Neither the CHP nor the Fire Department could provide information on the victim’s condition, the nature of the injuries, or whether the person jumped or fell, perhaps trying to avoid officers.

Officers issued multiple citations to sideshow participants and observers, and seized at least one car. The numbers were still being tallied Sunday because different law enforcement agencies were involved, Wilkenfeld said.

Sideshows have taken place for the past couple of decades, often in vacant lots, in large parking lots or on isolated streets in Oakland. But they’ve spread to other parts of the Bay Area, including freeways, the Bay Bridge and eastern Contra Costa County. Saturday’s event was the largest to occur in western Contra Costa, Wilkenfeld said.

Regardless of location, sideshows are “not only dangerous but illegal,” he said. “We want to remind people that participating, and just being a spectator, are illegal and we can impound your car for 30 days. We want to remind people not to take that risk.”

About 100 cars and 300 people, many of them observers, lined the ramps above Pomona Street in Crockett.