Santa Rosa Police Arrest 8 Connected To Sideshows Involving Hundreds

SANTA ROSA, CA — Santa Rosa police said Sunday they broke up a large sideshow Saturday night that yielded eight arrests, 10 citations and the recovery of one stolen vehicle.

Police said in a statement they received information that potentially hundreds of vehicles were headed to their area to participate in sideshow activity. They assembled a response team and coordinated with other local agencies.

At 10:45 p.m. police received calls from residents that approximately 200 cars were gathering in the area of Petaluma Hill Road and Colgan Ave. Santa Rosa police, Sonoma County Sheriff's Office deputies and California Highway Patrol officers responded by making numerous traffic enforcement stops. The group was unable to take over the intersection and moved to find another location, police said.

The response team met the vehicles as they tried taking over Central Ave. Additional stops were made and the cars left Santa Rosa, headed to Rohnert Park.

Rohnert Park police dispersed the vehicles, after which they went back to Santa Rosa, police said, this time trying to take over Sebastopol Road and Lombardi Lane. The group left on southbound Highway 101 and eventually left Marin County via the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.

After the first dispersal around 10:50 p.m., Santa Rosa officers tried pulling over a white Dodge Charger involved in the first attempted sideshow. The vehicle fled and led police on a freeway chase on southbound Highway 101 that exceeded 100 miles per hour.

The pursuit continued through several towns in south Sonoma County before entering Marin County in Novato. CHP officers utilized a spike strip to disable the vehicle. The four occupants of the car, including the driver, 20-year-old Pittsburg resident Dominick Desouza, fled the vehicle on foot. The three passengers, two of which are juveniles, were quickly caught and detained by officers from several different agencies. Desouza was eventually located and arrested
During the investigation, police learned the Dodge Charger was reported stolen out of Vallejo and had been equipped with license plates belonging to a Volkswagen in Antioch.

Desouza was arrested by Santa Rosa police and booked into Sonoma County Main Adult Detention Facility on suspicion of possession of a stolen vehicle, felony evading, and two counts of felony child endangerment. Seven other people were arrested for either suspicion of DUI or outstanding warrants.

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