Long Island Dude Films Himself Knocking Out Red Light Ticket Cameras Around His Town
Patch – A 42-year-old Centereach man was arrested Tuesday afternoon after he tampered with red-light cameras in Ronkonkoma, pointing them upwards so that they would not capture violators, but Stephen Ruth certainly isn’t apologizing. “To all the people thinking “why would he do that? Didn’t he think he was going to get arrested?” Ruth wrote on his Facebook page early Wednesday. “Of course I knew I would be arrested. I did it for the people who come back from war and get abused by these cameras. I did it because senior citizens are getting these, the same ones that went to war for us.” Police say Ruth tampered with a camera at Ocean Avenue and the Long Island Expressway South Service Road on Aug. 21 and Aug. 24. On Tuesday afternoon, he tampered with two cameras located at Hawkins Avenue and the Long Island Expressway South Service Road in Ronkonkoma. At 3:41 p.m. Tuesday, Ruth posted on Facebook, “I just hit Hawkins and LIE, two cameras at the same time.” At 3:56 p.m., he was arrested at his home. Police say they received anonymous tips regarding a video posted on social media that shows Ruth tampering with the cameras and seemingly encouraging others to do the same. “I’m going to show you how easy it is to take the power back,” Ruth says in the video. ”It doesn’t take more than a minute and the gratification is huge.” After he uses an expandable pole to push a camera skyward, he boosts, “I just saved people about $10,000 today.” Ruth says the camera in the video has “gotten me numerous times.” “Who is to say I need to wait three seconds after I clearly see there’s no one coming in my direction,” he says. “This is government taking advantage and it’s gonna stop.”
Whatta legend. All you need is a pair of bawls and a paint rod extension and you, too, can TAKE BACK THE POWER. You also need a pair of sweet shades, a bad tie collection and an awesome haircut in addition to the bawls and rod, but the point is you dont really need all that much to regain control from the powers that be. You think Steve Ruth gives a fuck about getting arrested for this? Fuck no. He’s doing it for the veterans coming back from overseas. He’s doing this for the innocent tax payers getting hit with $10,000 in tickets every day. This is about principle.
And its also about how fucking satisfying it is to knock those cameras out. Man, that has gotta feel good. Especially if they really are ticketing people for not waiting 3 seconds. I dont think I even know what that means. Your light turns green and you gotta wait 3 seconds before driving through the intersection? So you get a ticket for running through a green light? Thats simply preposterous if thats the case. I’d wage full blown war against the local government. Fuck knocking out the cameras. I’d bring that war right to the front fucking steps of City Hall. There would be bloodshed if I was getting hit with tickets for that.
Stephen Ruth – not the hero Ronkonkoma deserves, but the one it needs.