Man arrested for shooting traffic camera

[link to www.knoxnews.com]

It’s back: Disabled red-light camera operational again
By Don Jacobs (Contact)
Originally published 12:00 a.m., November 27, 2007
Updated 03:03 p.m., November 27, 2007
J. Miles Cary

Knoxville police arrested a man Sunday morning for allegedly shooting a traffic light camera several times at the intersection of Broadway and Interstate 640.
A red light camera along Broadway that was disabled by several rounds from a hunting rifle is fixed and should be snapping pictures of violators by 3 p.m. today, according to Knoxville Police Department spokesman Darrell DeBusk.
There were no estimates on the costs involved with replacing the camera components damaged by several rounds from a .30-06 high-powered rifle.

The camera at the corner of Broadway and Interstate 640 was shot about 2 a.m. Sunday.

A man accused of shooting the red-light camera, sending rounds from a high-powered rifle sailing into North Knoxville neighborhoods, had not previously been issued a red-light violation because of the devices.
“We do not show an incident where he’s received a ticket,” said Knoxville Police Department Capt. Gordon Catlett, who oversees the red-light camera program.
Police charged Clifford E. Clark III, 47, of Wildercliff Lane in North Knox County with felony vandalism and reckless endangerment. Clark was released from jail after posting an $8,000 bond.

Catlett said he was shocked that someone would endanger people by shooting at the camera.
“There’s neighborhoods all around that area,” the captain said. “I guarantee you he wouldn’t want someone shooting a high-powered rifle around his house.”
Officers in the Broadway area Sunday morning heard four shots fired while on patrol. When they searched the area, they found a minivan leaving the parking lot of a closed business.

Officers who pulled the minivan over found the rifle on the floorboard of the vehicle. Police said Clark refused to say anything about the incident.
Officers then discovered the camera mounted atop a metal pole had been shot three times.
Catlett said technicians from Redflex Traffic Systems examined the device Monday and determined the two still cameras and the video component in the metal box were damaged. The video camera provides a 12-second review of the alleged infraction.

Police confiscated the bullet-pocked metal camera box and placed it in an evidence room, the captain said. The .30-06-caliber rounds had pierced the box and continued on.
“Those bullets have to land somewhere,” Catlett said, adding that homes in the Dutch Valley Road and Greenway Drive area would have been in the line of travel. “We’re lucky no one was killed.”

The camera at Broadway and I-640 went active Sept. 20, 2006. Since then, it has recorded 6,798 incidents of vehicles apparently disregarding the red light, Catlett said.
Police said this is the first incident of someone shooting one of the devices installed at 15 intersections across the city. Red light offenders nabbed by the cameras pay a $50 fine, but the violation is not entered on a person’s driving record.

“We’ve had a couple of them hit in traffic accidents,” Catlett said. “This is the first one that’s been shot.”
While Catlett said records show no red-light violations involving Clark in the past, he noted if the violation occurred this weekend, that incident would not yet have been processed by Redflex employees who first review images captured by the cameras. Police officers trained on the system actually issue a notice of violation after reviewing information provided by Redflex.
“Right now, we have no images of him,” Catlett said.
Police also seized Clark’s hunting rifle.
“That rifle now belongs to us, unless he’s found not guilty and gets a court order to get his rifle back,” Catlett said.
“Right now, that $50 ticket is probably looking pretty cheap to him.”

More details as they develop online and in Wednesday’s News Sentinel.