Multiple arrests made after sideshow in Kansas City’s Riverfront District
A large sideshow that shut down roads in Kansas City’s riverfront led to multiple police chases and arrests over the weekend, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said.
Officers with the Kansas City Police Department responded around 11:30 p.m. Saturday to a sideshow on Front Street, just east of CPKC Stadium and underneath the I-35 bridge.
Sideshows, which include illegal street racing and automotive stunts, have been a perennial problem for Kansas City area law enforcement. The highway patrol reports that it assisted KCPD with enforcement efforts against sideshows multiple times each month since July.
As officers arrived in the area Saturday, a man allegedly jumped into the road, trying to impede responding police vehicles, according to a KCPD incident report.
Officers then chased him on foot as he tried to flee, the incident report said. He was eventually taken into custody.
Multiple police chases also ensued when highway patrol troopers responded to the scene, according to Cpl. Justin Howard, a highway patrol spokesman.
Troopers engaged in three separate police chases with vehicles. Two of the chases came to an end with the use of stop sticks, and one chase came to an end with the use of a Tactical Vehicle Intervention, Howard said.
During their response, one of the trooper’s patrol vehicles was hit by a fleeing vehicle, Howard said. However, no one was injured in any of the pursuits, he said.
The highway patrol arrested the drivers of the two vehicles that were brought to a halt with stop sticks.
The driver of the third vehicle fled on foot and a juvenile occupant was taken into custody, Howard said. Troopers found a stolen firearm in the third vehicle, Howard said.
A video circulating on social media shows the moments leading up to the police response to last Saturday’s sideshow near Kansas City’s Riverfront.
Cars can be seen backed up on an off ramp from I-35 onto Front Street.
The video shows people running to their cars and driving away before police arrive. Cars doing donuts underneath the I-35 bridge stop doing stunts and drive away.
Sideshow penalties, fines
In recent years, the city has increased fines and penalties for sideshow participants and spectators. In an email Tuesday, a spokesperson said the Kansas City Police Department has put a large focus on disrupting and preventing illegal sideshows.
“We know they are dangerous and disruptive to our community members,” said Officer Alayna Gonzalez, a KCPD spokeswoman. “We hear their concerns and are working hard to address them.”
Gonzalez said KCPD frequently posts on social media about arrests made in connection with sideshows. She said the department is working to increase community awareness on the issue and work with partners like the city to make enforcement easier.
“This has been achieved through targeted enforcement efforts, proactive traffic operations, and partnerships with city officials and community members,” Gonzalez said.
But the activities have persisted for years, despite police and city efforts to curb them.
In early November, a sideshow damaged new street art in a Kansas City neighborhood. A logo in the middle of the intersection of 75th Street and Wornall Road, which was commissioned to celebrate the Waldo neighborhood, was damaged by tire skid marks from an illegal sideshow Nov. 1.
Sideshows have also caused concern for business owners in Kansas City’s Crossroads District, who previously told The Star they have become advocates for urban upgrades that would prevent street racing.
It’s not just the blight sideshows have on new city amenities that officials are worried about.
Last year, a man was charged with manslaughter in connection with a man’s death at an illegal sideshow in 2022.
The man and another driver were allegedly doing “donuts” for a large crowd in a parking lot near the 3600 block of E. Front Street. During the stunt, the man veered and ran over 19-year-old Blake Holland. Holland was taken to a hospital with what were initially reported as non-life threatening injures, then was later taken into surgery and pronounced dead.
In 2023, Thomas Lewis, 20, who was a spectator at a Kansas City sideshow, was shot and killed near Meyer Boulevard and Swope Parkway.
Howard said that sideshows put participants, spectators, and bystanders at risk. With them happening more frequently, people should know what to do if they encounter one, he said.
“We urge people; if they are caught amongst one of these sideshows and there is a safe way to get out or around, to do so,” Howard said. “Otherwise, call 911 and provide police with accurate information so we can respond and take care of the incident.”
This story was originally published November 25, 2025 at 3:56 PM.
