Four Men Injured During Sideshow At 24th And Mission

San Francisco CA

30 March, 2021

5:27 PM

Description

By Julian Mark, Mission Local March 29, 2021 Four men were transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries following a sideshow at Mission and 24th streets on Saturday night, police said. Sideshows are unsanctioned events in which drivers do donuts in an intersection while others block off the intersection and watch. The stunt driving events are considered dangerous, and the San Francisco Police Department has recently formed a special unit to break them up as they've become more common in San Francisco, especially the Mission District. On Sunday, police broke up a sideshow at 13th and Folsom in which no one was injured, KPIX reported. In the incident on Saturday, police responded to 24th and Mission streets at around 9:30 p.m. Although police safely dispersed the participants, they found four men who had been hit by a car during the sideshow, said Officer Adam Lobsinger, an SFPD spokesman. Police did not find the car's driver on Saturday and are still looking for the suspect, as the suspect "fled the scene" after hitting the men, Lobsinger said. Police are investigating the incident as a hit-and-run. In the past, sideshows have vexed the SFPD, which at times has not known how to break them up safely. Last September, one man died and two were critically injured in a shooting that took place during a sideshow on Mission and Persia streets. Witnesses said police had been watching on as the shooting took place. Following that incident, however, the department formed a "Stunt Driving Response Unit," a dedicated team of officers who are trained to respond to sideshows. Moreover, the Board of Supervisors passed a law that allows the city to impound the cars of participants. It's unclear if any of the participants' cars were impounded during Saturday's incident. Police ask that anyone with information about the hit-and-run contact the SFPD at 415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411 and start the message with SFPD. You may remain anonymous. Mission Local covers San Francisco from the vantage point of the Mission, a neighborhood with all of the promise and problems of a major city. You can support Mission Local here.