Overview
- The speed camera recorded the attack on Aug. 18, showing the driver stop, strike and push the unit over, hit it with a rock, return with a truck, strap the damaged device and drag it roughly a third of a mile before abandoning it.
- Investigators identified 20-year-old Brandon Ribadeneira through the camera footage, a license-plate match and a DMV photo, then executed a search warrant at his home and recovered clothing that matched the video.
- Ribadeneira was arrested this week and charged with a class 4 felony for criminal damage after city officials estimated the repair and replacement cost at about $47,045.92.
- Police recovered the damaged unit at 10:28 a.m. on Aug. 18 and say the camera itself was central both as the target and as the key piece of evidence used in the case.
- The incident adds to tensions over Phoenix's reinstated program, which began issuing tickets in March with 17 cameras in operation, and highlights the fiscal and operational strain vandalism places on automated enforcement and local neighborhoods.