Driver arrested after spinning donuts on Bay Bridge, bringing traffic to halt

SAN FRANCISCO, California -- A sideshow shut down the westbound lanes of the Bay Bridge Sunday morning and created miles of traffic for drivers heading into San Francisco.

With their engines revving and tires screeching, three drivers decided to drive in circles across all five lanes of the Bay Bridge's upper deck at 10:45 Sunday morning.

"We responded. By the time we got there, most of the vehicles had fled the scene," said Officer Vu Williams with the California Highway Patrol.

But Williams says the driver of the white Ford Mustang convertible, 21-year-old Gabriel Rene Mora, crashed or broke an axle doing donuts. So without a working car to get away, the CHP arrested him for reckless driving.

"Fortunately, though, we had several good videos taken by bystanders that were able to help us document what happened and it will help us (with) filing some of those charges," Williams said.

Mora, who is from Stockton, was booked into San Francisco County jail for reckless driving, driving without a license, providing false information and resisting arrest.

An hour after the Bay Bridge sideshow, Mindy Greenberg, a San Francisco resident, shot cell phone video out her window of cars burning rubber in the Pier 30 parking lot, just south of the bridge.

Mary Moritz also lives nearby and heard the sideshow.

"It was like, what the hell, there's all these little white cars going up the Embarcadero at excessive speeds and it was just chaos out here. I thought this is worse than usual," Moritz said.

She and David Blende live near the Bay Bridge. The couple frequently calls SFPD about the car shows, which they say normally happen late at night and have become a noisy nuisance the past several years.

"They'll be back once or twice a week for sure and the police do come by and then they leave," explained Blende.

"They need to fix this problem. Please! We need to sleep," added Moritz.

While ABC7 was shooting video of the parking lot, a small group showed up, driving in circles around barricades and shooting cell phone video of the show. But SFPD was not far behind and quickly ushered the group out of the parking lot.

"It's pretty cool. It looks cool," said Izaih Rodriguez, who was in the parking lot.

Rodriguez was on his bicycle and says he enjoys just watching the sideshows.

"The danger is caused by stupidity of others," he said. "I mean it's the dumb drivers, I guess."