San Diego cops bust Christmas drifting sideshows

On Christmas Day, the San Diego Police Department caught the drivers of three Chevy Corvettes and a Ford Fox Body Mustang for participating in a "drifting sideshow." They impounded all four vehicles and posted the bust photos on their social media accounts.

"Multiple individuals participated in the sideshow at the intersection of Kerns Street and Drucker Lane," reads the police report on Facebook. "Officers from the Traffic and Southern Divisions responded to the area and identified seven vehicles and several drivers who participated in the event."

The estimated street damage was $5,000, per the police report.

Kerns Street and Drucker Lane meet at a cul-de-sac a mile west of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry heading into Tijuana. This area is a popular spot for folks to perform donuts. A donut is a trick where the driver — of a rear-wheel drive vehicle, as the four impounded vehicles mentioned earlier in the article — mashes the gas pedal, and the rear wheels burnout and smoke, and the car continues moving in a tight circular motion.

R. Bryan knows the Kerns and Drucker streets well; he said, "On weekends and holidays, zero traffic. None. That’s why they go there."

Those I spoke to about the drifting sideshow vehicles say this is not new. "In the mid-2000s, we'd race and burn rubber up and down there, and motorcycle stunt riders would pull up too," Cat Garcia said. "There's no talent in what they do — donuts are a joke. Now, if they are drifting, that's another story."

On the police report, they say the Corvette and Mustang drivers were drifting, which is when the drivers, also of rear-wheel drive vehicles, come around a corner at a high rate of speed, the vehicles slide, the drivers hit the accelerators while the cars are still power sliding sideways. At the same time, the rear wheels keep spinning and burning out.

And the sideshow term mentioned by SDPD is the umbrella term for people who block off streets, and people take turns doing burnouts, drifting, and donuts; a "takeover" is synonymous and mentioned in the same breath as "sideshow takeover" sometimes. "And some of those people are chasing, filming with their phones, get too close to the action and get hit by the cars," Garcia added. "Another dude I saw didn't close his driver's door all the way and wasn't wearing his seatbelt. And when he mashed the pedal and [proceeded] into sorta a donut — holy shit — his door opened, and he flew out on the street."

On a quick Google Maps search, the cul-de-sac where the police caught the drivers is a block south of Siempre Viva Road in the middle of various warehouses. Different tire marks were already on the pavement when zooming in and switching it to Street View and 360-degree mode (taken in November 2022).

Nehru, an import car builder, laughed underneath the Christmas post. "These events have been going on every year, and you guys are just now finding out about it. I don't know why all of a sudden, you people care. The city isn’t fixing the roads; they can’t even fix the potholes throughout the city — lol."

Many others online share the pothole versus takeover-skid-marks sentiments.

After the Christmas sideshow bust happened, "Individuals connected with these activities were also involved in ‘drifting sideshows’ later in the day in the City of Chula Vista, damaging the city streets and private property," continued the police report.

Then there was another drifting sideshow on Christmas, at east Chula Vista by Birch and Magdalena, said a resident who also called the police, but they never showed up.

Countywide, the police and sheriffs are cracking down on the sideshow takeovers which are trending on TikTok and Instagram. In August, the El Cajon Police Department and the San Diego Police Department connected and monitored six sideshow takeovers around the county.

In September, SDPD linked up with the CHP and the National City Police Department "in a county-wide effort to reduce street takeovers," reads SDPD's Facebook page. "Together, we arrested 11 people and cited another 51 during sideshow takeover events." Police cited seven drivers for reckless driving and/or exhibition of speed; their vehicles were impounded for 30 days. On top of this, even people who weren't caught side showing but just watching were busted; law enforcement "issued 37 hazardous and equipment citations and impounded ten of these vehicles."

Around the same time, on September 19, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill, Assembly Bill 2000, to prohibit street racing, takeovers, and sideshows in parking lots across the state, including San Diego County.