KALAMAZOO, Mich. — On a weekend that saw sunshine and 70-degree temperatures, residents of one neighborhood in Kalamazoo spent part of it picking up trash left behind after the so-called “X-Train” drove through the area. Stephanie Moore, like her neighbors, are fed up with it.
“You have people that drive erratically all through the night into the wee hours in the morning,” said Moore, vice chair of the Kalamazoo County Commission. “There’s drinking, there’s driving, there’s loud noise. There’s destruction of property.”
Moore said her fence has been damaged from X-Train activity. Her neighbors' lawns have been damaged. The X-Train — which can consist of as many as 60 to 70 cars and said to be named after the drug Ecstasy — tend to drive bumper-to-bumper. Even local school yards have been torn up.
“Some of the people are hanging outside of the [car] window,” said Moore. “They’re throwing litter and everything. It’s very dangerous. I do know of some individuals who have been hurt as a result of this, have been thrown from the car window.”
People are known to sit on the car door windows, she said. When the driver makes a turn, they are flung out of the window, especially as they speed through neighborhoods.
“People are filing claims,” said Moore. “We’ve had individuals parked in the street whose car has been totaled as result of this reckless behavior. It's dangerous. It costs too much, and it's unwanted. We’re done with it."
Saturday night, law enforcement with the Kalamazoo Public Safety, the county sheriffs office and Michigan State Police stopped the group and arrested 20 people on a total of 22 criminal charges. Some of the those charges include drug possession, fleeing eluding and driving while intoxicated. Moore hopes the arrests will have an impact on them and keep them out of their neighborhood. Some 10 vehicles were impounded.
“We sick and tired of being sick and tired,” said Moore. “It’s a wrap.”
