6/1/2006
North Carolina Red Light Camera Tickets Chicago ManA Chicago, Illinois resident was falsely accused of running a red light in Raleigh, North Carolina -- a city he had never visited.
A Raleigh, North Carolina red light camera accused Chicago resident Louis Greenwald of running a red light on December 25, 2005. Greenwald is innocent, but Raleigh wanted him to pay $50. Greenwald has never been to that city, and he can prove he was on vacation in Florida on Christmas morning.
"I don't think I could even locate [Raleigh] on a map," Greenwald told the News and Observer.
The vehicle that allegedly ran the red light was a rented Ford Explorer. No police officer actually verified that Greenwald had ever owned or rented that particular vehicle. Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), the company that runs the red light camera program, simply issued the ticket without any oversight. ACS is on trial for bribery over its photo enforcement dealings in Edmonton, Canada and is under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.