Article from: www.thenewspaper.com/news/17/1703.asp

4/16/2007

Texas: Man Wrongly Accused by Red Light Camera
A Dallas, Texas red light camera accuses the owner of a white car of committing an offense in a black sedan.

A Texas resident is fighting a photo ticket he received for an offense he did not commit. Last month, a Dallas red light camera accused Richard Gregory of running a red light in a black Acura 3.2 TL at 7:15 in the morning. At the time, Gregory was at his home in League City, located outside of Houston, 265 miles away from Dallas.

Gregory drives a white Chrysler and does not own an Acura, contrary to what is stated on the ticket. The photograph of the license plate on the citation showed the computer misread an "N" for an "M" in his license plate. In attempting to correct the error, Gregory lost respect for the automated enforcement system he once supported.

"I can't find out anything," Gregory told the Galveston County Daily News. "The response form doesn't even allow me to say that isn't my car."

So he called the city of Dallas which, instead of dropping the obviously erroneous citation, told him that he had to drive 530 miles round-trip and prove in court that he never owned the Acura.

"How do you prove you've never owned something?" Gregory asked the Daily News. "It's not as if I had it and sold it."

Source: Man says traffic camera falsely accused him (Galveston County Daily News (TX), 4/15/2007)

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