Speed Camera News Speeding enforcement camera catches the wrong culprit, POLICE and others WON'T LISTEN!
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Speeding enforcement camera catches the wrong culprit
Jon Yates Alleged violator has never been to county where was ticket issued or owned the car in question
What's Your Problem?
October 17, 2010
Before we continue with today's installment of What's Your Problem?, let us first agree upon the following facts:
•Sonia Nano has never been to Sangamon County.
•She does not own a 2005 Nissan.
•She in no way, shape or form looks like the woman caught on camera May 25 speeding through a construction zone on Interstate 55.
So the Chicago resident was more than a little confounded to learn she was issued a ticket for driving 62 miles per hour in a 45 mph work zone.
"It is a very, very, very bizarre situation," Nano said. "If it didn't happen to me, I would never have believed it."
Nano said she first learned of the ticket when a notice arrived in her mailbox Aug. 25 from Sangamon County Circuit Court in Springfield. The letter said she had already missed court hearings on July 15 and Aug. 12.
Worried and confused, Nano called the court and said there must have been a mistake. She reiterated all of the reasons it could not have been her speeding through the construction zone and asked why she had not received notice of the violation prior to the July or August hearings.
Nano said she was told a computer glitch had delayed mailing of the notices, but that the only way she could have the ticket thrown out was to appear before a judge. She was given a new hearing date of Oct. 14 at 9 a.m.
If she failed to show for that hearing, she was told, a warrant could be issued for her arrest, and she could lose her license.
In a panic, Nano called Illinois State Police, which issues the photo enforcement tickets. Nano said a sergeant there told her that when he entered information about the car involved in the infraction, her name came up. He then looked at the picture taken by the enforcement camera and her driver's license photo, and determined they matched.
The sergeant, too, told her she would have to appear in court Oct. 14.
For Nano, it was a lose-lose situation. If she failed to show up, she would likely be found guilty of a crime she didn't commit. But to make it to the 9 a.m. hearing, she would have to leave home about 4:30 in the morning and take a day off work.
In September, Nano made one last attempt to fix the situation, sending an affidavit to the court.
When a court employee told her the judge would not review the affidavit until the court hearing, Nano e-mailed What's Your Problem?
"I don't have any car registered under my name," she said. "I don't even own a Nissan. … I know very well that they know they made a mistake, but no one is willing to fix it."
Team Problem Solver called the Secretary of State's office, where records showed the car in question is registered to a man with the last name of Touma, which was Nano's last name until she got married in October 2008.
Nano said she is not related to the Touma who is the car's registered owner and has never met him.
"There are thousands of people with the same last name," Nano said.
The Problem Solver reviewed photos of Nano and the woman caught on camera speeding.
They are unlikely to be mistaken for each other.
On Tuesday, Problem Partner Kristin Samuelson spoke with Ryan Vaughn, traffic manager at the Sangamon County clerk of court's office.
Vaughn said he would talk to the Sangamon County state's attorney's office about Nano's case.
Later that day, Nano's ticket was dismissed.
"I just showed the paperwork (to the state's attorney's office), and they made the decision themselves," Vaughn said.
Nano called the ticket's dismissal "a miracle."
"The thing that upset me about the whole situation was if it was here in Chicago, I wouldn't mind going to court. It would take me a couple of hours, and I would prove to the judge it wasn't me," she said. "But to be in Springfield at 9 a.m. ..."
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