Matt Dianna was riding his bicycle to work along the Schuylkill River Trail near Morgantown Road on Tuesday morning when, he says, a man driving a golf cart began chasing him, screaming at him, and eventually putting his hands on him during a tense roadside confrontation. Dianna managed to record part of the encounter on video, and the footage shows just how frightening the ride to work became.
According to NBC10 Philadelphia, the golf cart driver pulled in front of Dianna and tried to run him off the trail. Dianna said the driver used slurs and hate speech in an apparent effort to scare him, and described a short scuffle before the driver chased him for several minutes.
Dianna told the station the driver again pulled in front of him and stood in the middle of the trail in what he described as an assault position. During the physical altercation that followed, the driver put his hands on Dianna, who says he pushed the man away before finally escaping and continuing on to work.
Trail Located in Reading, Berks County
The confrontation happened on the section of the Schuylkill River Trail that runs through Reading, in Berks County, Pennsylvania — a stretch of the multiuse path that, according to the same NBC10 report, is not supposed to see golf carts at all. Reading police told the outlet that golf carts are barred from the trail entirely.
Police also said they had not received any formal complaints about the incident as of Tuesday morning, before NBC10 showed them Dianna's video. After viewing the footage, officers told the station they were concerned about the behavior it depicted. NBC10 crews who went out to the trail Tuesday did not spot the golf cart driver anywhere along the route.
Dianna said he planned to speak with investigators about what happened. The station's report on the case included an interview by Aaron Baskerville, who spoke with Dianna about the ordeal.
A Trail Already Grappling With Crowding and Speed
The Schuylkill River Trail has drawn separate scrutiny in recent weeks over how safely its different users share the same narrow path. A Philadelphia Magazine report published in August described the trail as meant to be “a shared space, to be enjoyed by runners, walkers, and cyclists of all ages and abilities,” but noted that friction on the path has been compounded by a growing number of e-bikes, throttle-equipped bikes and even gas-powered motorcycles.
That earlier reporting focused on road-rage tension among cyclists themselves rather than golf carts, but it also described friction on the trail involving faster, motorized traffic.
What Pennsylvania Law Says About Harassment
Pennsylvania's harassment statute, as laid out by the Pennsylvania General Assembly, defines harassment as conduct intended to harass, annoy or alarm another person, which can include physical contact or threats, following someone in a public place, or engaging in a repeated course of conduct. Under that statute, conduct covered by those physical-contact, public-following or repeated-course provisions is generally graded as a summary offense, while certain repeated communications are treated as a third-degree misdemeanor.
The law describes categories of conduct rather than establishing that any specific person committed a crime, and it remains unclear whether the golf cart driver seen in Dianna's video has been identified or contacted by investigators. Dianna's plan to speak with investigators, as reported by NBC10, suggests the matter is not yet closed.
