A Raleigh man has been charged with marijuana possession and traffic charges after driving into a barricade during an overnight BBQ contest and injuring three people in Downtown Clayton.
Eighteen year old Matthew Cecil Gilbert of Raleigh was driving down Fayetteville Street just after 2:00am Saturday when he failed to stop for barricades blocking the street at Town Square and hit 3 people who were participating in an overnight “Squealin’ on the Square” BBQ contest that involves teams cooking barbecue through the night for a contest and sale the next morning.
Luckily, this incident did not happen during the height of the event when thousands of people are on Main Street and in Town Square for the annual Clayton Harvest Festival.
Three men were taken to Wake Medical Center in Raleigh with non-life threatening injuries.
Officers determined that Gilbert was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but they did find marijuana in his car. He was charged with possession of marijuana and paraphernalia, and failure to reduce speed to avoid a collision.
The Clayton Chamber of Commerce Harvest & Music Festival is a 5-day event, highlighted by a huge Saturday vendor fair that closes down Main Street and usually attracts more than 20,000 people to Downtown Clayton. The event continued Saturday without any further interruptions.
