Photo radar van operator killed in Phoenix

[LeeH]

Pretty amazing. Guy pulls up behind the photo radar van, then pulls around it and shoots into the van several times killing the driver. Police had the shooter in custody in a very short amount of time. Didn't he know there were cameras on board???

Here's a link to the story with various videos available.

[Bill Douglas]

I guess it comes under the category of consumer resistance.

[pwd72s]

Amazing...simply crazy.

[HardDrive]

Terrible. Our political systems have mechanisms to give people a voice. Murdering an innocent man doing his job is indefensible for any rational person.

[m21sniper]

Guess he don't like photo radar huh?

[Joeaksa]

Sad to see. We are having these photo radar vans pop up around almost every corner as the city/county is trying to make money before its banned. Can sure understand how someone would get pissed off at this but shooting the operator is not the cure.

[charleskieffner]

pretty damn embarassing to the state. crap like this is senseless and god help the bastard if i get drawn on his jury. tragic/senseless/moronic need i say more. great cop work on this.

hell i thought i was out of line wanting to spray paint the camera lenses!

[creaturecat]

Sad.
Photo radar illegal here. Photo radar seems to make people really angry.

[Heel n Toe]

Very sad. The shooter, shown at the end of that vid and in the link below, sure looks the part of a "mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it any more" type.
___________________
Streaming video from the van showed a Chevy Suburban driving away from the shooting and led police to Destories' home, where he was arrested Monday morning. He faces a first-degree murder charge.

Police do not know the motive for the shooting, although the photo radar program has been the center of controversy since it began last year. Police said Destories had not received any photo radar tickets.

Destories was booked after he made "incriminating statements,'' Phoenix police spokesman Sgt. Andy Hill said.

Hill said investigators believe Destories pulled up behind the van and then slowly pulled alongside it and fired a gun multiple times, hitting Georgianni in the driver's seat. Investigators don't believe Destories knew Georgianni.

http://www.ktar.com/?nid=6&sid=1134887

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I'm all for standing up to government overstepping its boundaries but this is just ridiculous. There was no need for this. Plenty of ways a LEGAL challenge could have been pursued. This guy was just a whack-job, nothing more.

[masraum]

So, who figures the old guy was drunk when he fired the shots?

This is ridiculous. It's hard to believe that this sort of crap can happen.

I hope they throw the book at the guy.

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

Sad to see. We are having these photo radar vans pop up around almost every corner as the city/county is trying to make money before its banned. Can sure understand how someone would get pissed off at this but shooting the operator is not the cure.

Hey Joe!!!!

PS: Can the author take down the video? It plays commercials after commercial.

[m21sniper]

This is an act of civil insurrection btw.

Second one in about six weeks....

[daepp]

I suspect that he thought the van was empty. Just a guess I admit. Doesn't make it legal either.

[cairns]

Very sad. And inexcusable.

OTOH I would love to shoot every camera I see and would gladly riddle those stupid vans with the cameras in them with as many automatic weapons as I could find- a rocket launcher would be even better.

They're all over Maryland, form a large portion of the state and county budget and there will soon be lots more (thank you Martin O'Malley- we love being sodomized!). In a six mile jaunt from my office to the grocery store to home last night: two cops, three speed cameras. The latter conveniently placed where the speed limit drops from 45 or 40 to 30- on roads where the average speed is 50.

If you like them vote be sure to vote Democratic. I've only seen Republicans vote against them- and only the Washington Times (never the Post) has run stories exposing the $, the rigged red light timing etc. In Montgomery County, where I live, even the cops have been giving fingers to the red light cameras (caught on camera of course!) and their union argued they shouldn't have to pay the tickets (and as far as I know the Union won that argument).

If our Government cared about safety they'd ban hand held cell phones; or allow the street lights to be overridden by emergency vehicles or fund an actual driver's education program, etc. But we all know this isn't about safety.

[Pazuzu]

Originally Posted by DAEpperson

I suspect that he thought the van was empty. Just a guess I admit. Doesn't make it legal either.

I wasn't going to be the one to put that point out there...but you're probably right. Shooting things on the side of the road is the state past time in AZ, and if those things happen to belong to one of the many legal institutions, then you get double points.

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by DAEpperson

I suspect that he thought the van was empty. Just a guess I admit. Doesn't make it legal either.

I think it was intentional as the operator was hit 4 times. Plus if he was trying to knock out the camera that's in the back.

It happened a while ago in Germany. The guy didn't want anymore demerit points.

[legion]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

I'm all for standing up to government overstepping its boundaries but this is just ridiculous. There was no need for this. Plenty of ways a LEGAL challenge could have been pursued. This guy was just a whack-job, nothing more.

I think most of us have been denied due-process in a traffic court, and photo-radar seems to be an even more efficient means of taking our money without recourse.

While I don't condone the shooting, I think it is sadly the only way to get government to sit up and pay attention to their intentional, dailey violation of our rights.

[m21sniper]

We sit here and ***** every day about the government sticking it up our ass and do nothing about it.

This guy did something about it.

First shot in a new revolution? Only time will tell.

He should have shot the camera instead of the man. Shooting some nameless civil service drone totally destroyed any support he might have had for his actions...

And rightfully so.

LEE: PLEASE TAKE DOWN THE COMMERICAL LADEN VIDEO.

[9dreizig]

As much as I think this guy did a bad thing,, I applaud the fact that the first shot that it is viewed as an act against the unlawful act of traffic photo stealing..