9 Investigates: Some people continue to drive despite revoked licenses

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Eyewitness News found people charged with drunken driving who lost their licenses behind the wheel again.

For days, Eyewitness News staked out the Mecklenburg County courthouse undercover, following people charged with driving drunk. Most have had their licenses taken away, and Eyewitness News found that many of them didn’t seem to care.

“Did you drive yourself to court today?” Eyewitness News asked 24-year-old Joshua Lipko.

“Uh, no,” he replied.

“Well, you're driving out of court, so did someone come with you?” Eyewitness News asked.

“Um, no,” Lipko said.

The judge did dismiss Lipko's DWI charge, but his license was still revoked.

Jody Joseph had just been convicted for DWI and a judge ordered him to surrender his license. But it still didn't stop him from getting behind the wheel.

“So should you even be driving right now?” Eyewitness News asked.

“No, I shouldn't be,” he replied.

Last year, Officer Matthew Pressley arrested 167 people for DWI.

“Quite a large number of the DWI arrests I make are of unlicensed or suspended license drivers,” he said.

He and some of the other officers in CMPD's traffic unit concentrate solely on keeping them off the roads.

“I've had several offenders that I've personally arrested more than once, myself,” Pressley said.

Of the 4,000 DWI cases in Mecklenburg County this year, 20 are habitual offenders -- arrested more than three times in 10 years for driving drunk.

Since Leon Massey Junior’s first arrest in 1998, he's been convicted six times for DWI and driving without a license. He was just sentenced last month to his second prison term.

“How hard is it to keep these people off the roads?” Eyewitness News asked Bruce Lillie with the Mecklenburg County D.A.'s Office.

“It's very hard,” he said. “There's not a lot that we can do about that if they are not in prison.”

As for the drivers Eyewitness News found without a license -- Lipko promised to get his license back.

“I'm on my way to get it at the DMV office,” he said.

And Joseph pulled over and left the driver’s seat moments after the confrontation.

After Eyewitness News caught those men on camera, we contacted the prosecutor's office.

Next week, we are going to sit down and review the raw footage, and they said the men could face new charges or have their bond revoked.

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