MACON COUNTY, Ala. (WRBL) – An overnight cross burning on an interstate overpass in Alabama is under investigation.
Thursday night around 9:30 several drivers along Interstate 85 noticed a fire on the Country Road 54 overpass. One of the drivers pulled over and called 911, Macon County Sheriff Andre Brunson confirms.
Deputies were able to help extinguish the fire. Brunson says a makeshift wood cross had been set on fire on top of the bridge.
John Bolton was one of the drivers who first saw the fire and called 911 as he was driving home on the interstate.
“Two young men headed to Montgomery, and I, headed to Auburn, saw it as soon as it was set on fire. We pulled over immediately and started running towards it. It looked like a shadow began to run away as we were approaching. We were the first on the scene. I called 911 as one of the guys climbed up to the bridge to knock the cross down. The first officer arrived a few minutes later. The officer, the two young men, and I all climbed up to the bridge in order to put out the fire at that time. About five more officers and a female all arrived a few minutes later. Once the fires were extinguished, we could see that there were three total – a cross, a burning tire, and a fuel canister,” shared Bolton.
Sheriff Brunson says the fire remains under investigation and at this point there are no suspects. If you have any information on the fire you are asked to please call the Macon County Sheriff’s Office.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, The image of the burning cross is one of the most potent hate symbols in the United States, popularized as a terror image by the Ku Klux Klan since the early 1900s.
