Local

Video shows truck driving on light rail tracks in South End

CHARLOTTE — Someone was caught on camera driving on the light rail track in South End over the weekend, as seen in a video posted on Barstool 49′ers Instagram page.

It happened near Bland Street following an apparent fight right at last call on Saturday night. Charlotte Area Transportation told Channel 9′s Dan Matics a maintenance crew checked out the tracks and found no damage.

Light rail rider Walter Putnam told Matics he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He then started to record.

“I immediately just started screaming, there was a whole bunch of people just waiting on the train, everybody turns waiting for it,” Putnam said. “It was crazy! I mean, you don’t see that every day.”

Another video posted to Instagram showed what led up to truck driving on the tracks. Several people were involved in a fight on the south side on Bland Street. At least four people could be seen piling into a black pickup truck. Instead of turning onto a roadway, the driver turned onto the tracks.

“They were probably just trying to get away from that fight that happened, I assume they thought it was a road and didn’t realize it was the light rail tracks,” Putnam said.

Putnam said next time he’s ready to leave near closing time, he is going to call an Uber.

CATS told Matics they are aware of the video and are working with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police. Channel 9 has reached out to CMPD, but we have not heard back.

This is a developing story; check wsoctv.com for updates.


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Dan Matics

Dan Matics, wsoctv.com

Dan is a reporter and anchor for Channel 9.