6/20/2008
Australian Axman Attacks Automated Ticketing MachineAx attack in Victoria, Australia leaves speed camera vehicle with smashed door and window.
A forty-year-old speed camera operator in Victoria, Australia was frightened yesterday by a man armed with an ax. The operator parked on Wedge Road in Carrum Downs at around 7:30pm. After turning on the camera, he relaxed in the passenger's seat as the automated machinery proceeded to generate citations ready for mailing to the owners of passing vehicles.
At 10:30pm, the operator was startled by the sight of an ax shattering the driver's side window of his vehicle. The axman poked his ax toward the operator a few times before leaving the scene. The operator was unharmed, only suffering a slight cut to his finger from glass shards. The speed camera car's door suffered extensive damage.
Police are now looking for the axman, described as 5 foot 10 inches tall wearing a dark jacket, dark pants and a beanie. A police dog's search of the area failed to turn up evidence of the axman's whereabouts, but it did succeed in uncovering an elderly man's marijuana growing operation.