Man Films Self Tampering With Traffic Cameras

A man accused of driving around Long Island and tampering with red-light cameras was arrested after police were tipped off about a YouTube video he made documenting his exploits, the New York Daily News reports. In the video posted yesterday, 42-year-old Stephen Ruth admits to getting ticketed by red-light cameras ("Who's to say that I need to wait three seconds after I clearly see that there is no one coming?") and complains the government is taking advantage of people. He then demonstrates what he calls "taking the power back" by using a pole to tip a red-light camera toward the sky. PIX11 reports Ruth posted similar videos to Facebook last Friday and Sunday.

Police, alerted to the video by several people, arrested Ruth yesterday on suspicion of tampering with four red-light cameras in the past week, the Daily News reports. Police say the cameras were just recording clouds after Ruth got through with them. Following his arrest, Ruth posted to his Facebook page that he knew he was going to be caught. But, he needed to do it anyway "for the people who come back from war and get abused by these cameras" and also for senior citizens, "the same ones that went to war for us," who get ticketed. Plus, as he says in his video, "the gratification is huge." (More red-light cameras stories.)