Halloween night sideshows briefly shut down freeway, result in handful of arrests

SAN JOSE >> An estimated 150 to 200 people participated in sideshows across San Jose late Wednesday, including an episode on southbound Highway 101 that briefly stopped traffic, resulting in a handful of arrests and citations, according to authorities.

The California Highway Patrol and San Jose Police Department received information that the sideshows were being planned on Halloween night and tracked the group from one end of San Jose to the other.

About 150 to 200 vehicles participated in the sideshows, according to CHP Officer Ross Lee. Authorities arrested three people, handed out three citations and impounded at least three vehicles.

The group first met at Brokaw Road near Interstate 880, Lee said. The vehicles then went south and met with more drivers in the parking lot of the Bass Pro Shops on Almaden Expressway.

From there, the throng of cars went to Senter and Lewis roads for “the first big sideshow.”

“We were aware and tracking them,” Lee said.

One vehicle that tried to flee from police following the sideshow on Senter and Lewis was eventually stopped on the freeway by the CHP.

After authorities broke up the sideshow on city streets, the group of drivers met up again on Old Bayshore Highway near 101, Lee said. The group shut down that intersection for a second sideshow.

Authorities broke up that sideshow and arrested one person, Lee said.

The group of drivers then took over a stretch of southbound Highway 101 between McKee Road and Alum Rock Avenue and spent about one minute doing a sideshow, Lee said. CHP officers responded and pushed the group out.