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New Castle Residents Urge Police To Go After ATVs

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Drivers of all-terrain vehicles in New Castle are ruffling some residents' feathers.

New Castle Police busted the driver of a yellow ATV on Thursday for riding through the city's North Hill section. It's now sitting in the pound.

Walking with his granddaughter, Randy Bara who lives on Edison Avenue says, "They come up through here at least 50 miles an hour, sometimes on two wheels, three or four at a time.

For the past two weeks, the usually quiet residential streets are now a shortcut to get to the railroad beds.

"It's scary because all the kids are coming down from the school like at 2:30, and they're flying up through there. They don't even look," said Bara.

People living there have taken to their porches with cell phone and iPad cameras trying to catch ATV riders in the act.

"We believe the people. We can understand their frustration. The problem is getting the ATVs. They can obviously go off-road, between houses, and it's not safe for us to be pursuing ATVs in a cruiser," says Lt. Dave Cumo.

"They're good people and they're really concerned about their neighborhood," said New Castle City Councilman Paul Stefano.

He says their concerns are valid, and that the ATV traffic may even be linked to far more serious illegal drug activity.

"Yeah, they indicated that perhaps the ATVs were being used to transport," said Stefano.

The impounded ATV's owner is facing fines of $25 a day, plus towing costs, and up to $300 in citations.

New Castle Police say that they have a strategies to fix the ATV nuisance in that neighborhood, and they hope to do it sooner than later.

They also hope that the public will call with any information about the owners of the ATVs.

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