(Memphis) “It was a big old mob,” Gale Mitchell said. “It was horrible. I was scared.”
Chaos broke out at the driver’s license reinstatement center at the Hickory Ridge Mall Wednesday afternoon.
“When I made it here to the door, that’s when the slammed the door in my face,” Roderick Tutson said.
“He slammed the gate down and people started rushing toward the gate and I was just trying to get out the way with the baby,” Tamika Jones said.
People who waited in line since 7 a.m. were told they would have to come back tomorrow.
“He came out at 2:30 and said we had to leave they aren’t taking any more people,” Jones said.
“Today is the second day I’ve been here. I’ve been here all day,” Tutson said.
They weren’t happy.
The crowd was so irate, armed security guards closed the gate.
“Of course you have people upset so the gate had to come down to protect the safety of the people of the building along with the examiners,” District Manager Kendra White said.
Even state troopers were brought in for crowd control.
Frustration with these long wait times are nothing new.
In November, WREG first told you this reinstatement center has the longest wait times in the state.
We were given excuses.
“We’re trying to get the technology in has been a struggle,” Department of Public Safety Deputy Commissioner Larry Godwin said.
Then we were told help was on the way.
“We provided a lot of training to our employees,” DPS Commissioner Bill Gibbons said.
But the story is the same.
“There is no immediate solution,” White said. “There is normally five examiners at this station today there were only three.”
Reporter: “Did you ask for more help?
White: “You request more people but the state has a designated number for particular locations.”
Reinstatement centers always do have longer waits because the processing takes longer.
We were told today that January through May are the busiest months because people get their tax refunds back.
