Hilltop dealership cars, RPD vehicle damaged during weekend sideshow
Nine vehicles from auto dealerships and a Richmond Police Department vehicle were damaged during an early morning sideshow in the Hilltop neighborhood on Saturday, September 28.
Police estimated people engaged in destructive behavior during the sideshow caused tens of thousands of dollars to at least nine vehicles from two different Hilltop Auto Mall dealerships.
A video widely circulated on social media shows several individuals standing on dealership trucks and smashing windshields while cars spin in a nearby intersection.
Richmond Public Information Officer Lt. Donald Patchin said RPD officers encountered a large sideshow near Klose Way and Blume Drive at 2:35 a.m. on Saturday. Several hundred vehicles blocked the road while others engaged in sideshow activity and refused to leave the area.
“Officers had to request mutual aid from surrounding agencies, and with their assistance, they were able to disperse the crowd,” Patchin said. “While dispersing the crowd, what was believed to be a beer can was thrown at an RPD vehicle, cracking the windshield.”
According to police, no arrests or citations were issued. The Richmond Mayor’s Office did not respond to requests for comment on the sideshow.
Sideshows also occurred in other cities over the weekend. Vallejo Mayor Robert H. McConnell harshly criticized sideshow participants in a statement to KRON News.
Jordan Baker
“It would also be great for these criminals, and that is what they are, to realize the harm, and that is what they directly inflict and damage people they don’t care about,” McConnell told KRON in a statement. “Clearly selfish. Why don’t these brats do this where their momma lives.”
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