CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A newly posted video highlights the trouble ATV riders and dirt bikes are causing on Charlotte streets.
The video posted to Reddit shows a group of riders popping wheelies in Plaza Midwood near Central Avenue and Pecan. It’s been an ongoing issue in the Queen City, which has led to everything from assaults to deadly crashes.
NBC Charlotte could not verify when the video was taken, but it shows something that’s been happening all too often; riders making dangerous maneuvers in traffic.
The video shows an ATV rider pop a wheelie at a busy intersection. Then seconds later, several other riders follow with similar maneuvers. It comes despite previous warnings about the danger from the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department.
“It puts the public, it puts the rider, and it puts us in danger,” a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department representative previously said.
The latest video comes just months after a crash between an ATV rider and a train on the light rail in South End in September.
“We heard the train screech,” a witness previously told NBC Charlotte. “It was pure metal on metal.”
CMPD says the ATV rider went around a stopped car, tried to bypass the lights and gates, before crossing into the path of the train.
“There was a fellow on the ground,” a witness said. “He was in pretty rough shape.”
The rider survived and was charged with several crimes.
A month before that incident, a traffic crash turned deadly. Heather Perotti previously told NBC Charlotte she was surrounded by ATV riders and dirt bikes on South Tryon.
“They started doing figure eights behind me,” she said.
Perotti said she was punched in the head by the driver of a car who was associated with the group of riders.
“Punched me in my ear and it rang my chimes a little bit for sure,” Perotti said.
Moments after the assault, she told NBC Charlotte she snapped photos of the riders down the road at Bojangles.
As officers responded to the scene, the group of riders took off, and a dirt bike rider crashed a short distance away. Michael Adams, 33, was taken to the hospital where he died.
“I do feel very badly for his family, but it's a choice, you have a choice to do this kind of thing,” Perotti said.
Perotti initially contacted NBC Charlotte after seeing a story with yet another video showing riders on Wilkinson Boulevard. The riders were popping wheelies, driving up the sidewalk, and tearing up property.
“It’s not worth it. and we as a community need to stop this from happening,” Perotti said.
It’s not clear when the latest video was taken, so NBC Charlotte was not able to verify whether it was reported to CMPD. However, based on CMPD crime mapping, NBC Charlotte did not find any similar crimes reported in the past four weeks near that location.
CMPD says if you see anyone involved in unsafe or reckless driving, including ATV riders and dirt bikes, call 911.
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