Safe Speed Forums

Man arrested in taped speed-camera shooting
3 comments Apr. 27, 2012 01:17 PM Associated Press

SANTA FE, N.M. -- A man authorities believe was caught on video shooting up a parked police speed-enforcement vehicle was arrested Friday after a pursuit and a brief standoff with a Santa Fe, N.M., SWAT team.

Scott Powell, 63, fled from officers trying to serve a search warrant Friday morning, Santa Fe police Sgt. Andrea Dobyns said. He led police on a chase through the city's downtown before being arrested just before noon after a brief SWAT standoff at a doctor's office.

Police investigating the shooting had interviewed Powell on Monday and he admitted not liking the photo-radar vehicles the city uses to issue speeding tickets, especially when one is parked near his home, Dobyns told the Santa Fe New Mexican (http://bit.ly/JN38qM ). But he denied that he shot at the unoccupied police SUV.
Powell told police Friday morning that he would turn himself in this afternoon, but then he fled, Dobyns said.

Police released video last week of a nightshirt-clad man driving up on the night of April 11, getting out and walking toward the SUV. He then methodically opened fire with a handgun, firing at least five times and appearing to curse between shots.
Three bullets hit the vehicle, piercing the windshield and damaging the roof, but the camera equipment remained intact.
The city's speed-enforcement vehicles are operated by Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Redflex Traffic Systems. They use radar and photograph speeders, who then get a ticket in the mail.
The vehicles are used by cities across the country and are credited by police with cutting down on speeding. But they've also received criticism by some who call them electronic "Big Brothers."

They've been attacked before.
Earlier this year, someone shot a Santa Fe speed enforcement vehicle with a paintball gun.
In Phoenix in 2009, a man opened fire on a state police speed camera van on a freeway, killing the operator as he sat in the front seat. The shooter was captured the next day, pleaded guilty in 2010 to second-degree murder and is serving a 22-year sentence.
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