Cyclist says golf cart driver chased him on trail in Reading – NBC10 Philadelphia

A cyclist says his morning commute to work turned frightening when a man driving a golf cart repeatedly confronted and chased him along the Schuylkill River Trail in Reading, Berks County.

Matt Dianna recorded video that shows part of the encounter early Tuesday morning as he rode his bicycle to work. Dianna said the golf cart driver yelled at him and tried to run him off the trail.

“There were a lot of slurs, a lot of hate speech. You can hear it in the video a little bit. But he was laughing and really just trying to scare me,” Dianna said.

Dianna told NBC10 the encounter happened on the trail along Morgantown Road and was not his first interaction with the man that morning.

“He almost ran me off the trail first and he stopped and basically pulled in front of me and started screaming at me and I started screaming back at him. He comes up and put his hands on me. I just pushed him away,” Dianna said.

Dianna said there was a short scuffle before the golf cart driver chased him for several minutes.

After the video of the encounter was posted on social media, others described their own strange or dangerous encounters with the man on the trail.

According to Reading police, golf carts are not allowed on the trail. Police said they had not received any formal complaints as of Tuesday morning, but Dianna told NBC10 he planned to speak with investigators after work.

Dianna said he encountered the man again after recording the video.

“There was another encounter after the video too. He again pulled in front of me. He was basically standing in the middle of the trail in an assault position,” Dianna said.

Dianna was able to get away. NBC10 crews did not see the man in the golf cart while they were on the trail Tuesday.

NBC10 showed Dianna’s video to Reading police, who said they were concerned about the behavior depicted on the trail.

This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC Philadelphia. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC Philadelphia journalist edited the article for publication.