California teen plummets to his death while spectating illegal street takeover sideshow from freeway
A Los Angeles teen plunged 75 feet to his death while watching an early morning sideshow or illegal street takeover on Saturday after he fell over the edge of the freeway, according to local reports.Jose Cuevas, 16, was spectating the wild meetup featuring more than 100 cars practicing different stunts, ranging from run-of-the-mill donuts to burnouts.Participating in and even just informally watching the demonstrations is illegal in California.
The gathering took place around 3 a.m.near Interstate 80 in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Jose reportedly fell to his death closer to 3:30 a.m.after scaling a concrete barrier up to the freeway near the Carquinez Bridge, which has approximately 148 feet of clearance underneath.The teen’s fatal fall was only discovered after authorities responded to separate reports about the illegal sideshow.
He was declared dead at the scene, KTLA reported.Lila Noguera, whose son was close friends with Jose, remembered the teen with a “good heart” as someone just “trying to live life.” “Very nice kid, and he had a good sense of humor, always happy and adventurous and just so you know, at the same time, very respectful,” Noguera told ABC7.She added that her “devastated” son is struggling to cope as he’s “never had a close friend pass.” In early August, lawmakers further south in Jose’s hometown of Los Angeles pushed for stricter punishments for sideshow participants and spectators alike.In April, Los Angeles County officials doubled the fine for participating in illegal street takeovers to $1,000 on top of 90 days in jail.Spectators could face similar, but softer, fines and time behind bars.LA District Attorney Nathan Hochman sought to hike the penalties with an additional $2,500 fine for the second offense and $5,000 for the third.
In the summer of 2023, Oakland, Calif.— just 22 miles away from the bridge where Jose watched the sideshow — was brought to its knees by ‘Fast & Furious style mayhem.The mask...