http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/10/20/20101020tempe-speed-cameras-lawsuit1020.html

Tempe man sues, claims photo enforcement is fraud

by Laurie Merrill - Oct. 20, 2010 11:07 AM

The Arizona Republic
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A Tempe man is suing to get rid of the city's photo enforcement system, saying it commits fraud by issuing tickets to people who weren't really speeding.

Daniel Arthur Gutenkauf, 59, of Tempe said the system couldn't differentiate between him and his identical twin brother, but sent him a citation anyway.

Although he appealed his conviction in Tempe Municipal Court and won, he claims in the suit that he shouldn't have received the ticket in the first place.

"Clearly this is a fraudulent system," Gutenkauf, who plays bass guitar with his twin at weddings and other functions, said in an interview.

The suit is the latest of many filed around the country that have challenged the validity of photo enforcement systems designed to catch speeders and red light runners. Last month, for example, a Sioux Falls, S.D., businessman sued to force the city and the Redflex Traffic Systems to pay back money collected through red light traffic cameras in the city.

In August, a judge in San Diego found evidence collected by the city's red light cameras to be inadmissible in court. And earlier in August, the city of Minneapolis sued the company it hired to issue citations after the city was forced to refund more than $2 million in traffic tickets.

Gutenkauf, who filed the suit on his own behalf, is seeking $8 million in damages in U.S. District Court in Phoenix, claiming the system depends on conspiracy and fraud and flies in the face of the U.S. Constitution.

He filed the federal anti-racketeering suit against the Tempe, Redflex, Attorney General Terry Goddard and more than 40 other defendants. Redflex operates the Tempe photo enforcement system.

The city and Redflex did not comment on this lawsuit. Tempe Police Sgt. Steve Carbajal, a spokesman, said: "We can not comment due to pending litigation."

Gutenkauf, a Tempe resident since 1978, claims in his 88-page lawsuit that the defendants conspired to cite him without identifying him as the driver in an August 2008 speeding incident. His twin brother, Dennis, is also insured to drive his gray and silver Chevrolet van, he said in the complaint.

His main point, he said, is to stop the defendants from issuing photo speeding tickets based on a match between the vehicle registration number and the gender of the person photographed.

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