Culver City California Police Drop Red Light Ticket, Circumstances Suspicious

Actor Steve Tom who lives in North Hollywood received a red light camera ticket ($490) at the intersection of Sepulveda Blvd and Green Valley Dr on June 15 at 2:44 pm, but he was't driving and didn't (doesn't) own the car. The car's register owner, Barry Babcock, lives in St. Louis. There is some question if the two knew each other or not at the time of the ticket.

Culver City Police Captain Ron Iizuka said they do not use facial recognition (author’s note - yet). The Captain also said when the actor went to the police station to complain to a traffic sergeant, the actor acknowledge knowing the registered owner. Both the actor and registered owner deny knowing each other before the ticket.

Me thinks this stinks. It's unclear how the actors’ name got on the ticket with the St. Louis address, or how he received notice of the ticket at his Hollywood address. Police said the 2 look very much alike (irrelevant), but that doesn't explain anything. How did police connect the video and vehicle registration to the actor? Sounds like a cheap publicity stunt.

Culver City has had cameras since 1999 at 11 intersections. In 2014 the city got $2 million from the cameras, the red light camera supplier got about 40% ($800,000) of the ticket bounty.