A 20-year-old Phoenix man is facing a criminal damage charge after police say he tried to destroy a school-zone speed camera that had just caught him speeding — first striking it with a rock, then returning in a truck to try to rip it out of the ground. Brandon Ribadeneira was taken into custody on Tuesday, Aug. 25, in connection with the Aug. 18 incident near Cave Creek Road and Deer Valley Drive.
According to ABC15 Arizona, Ribadeneira was driving over the speed limit when the camera activated. Police say he pulled over, got out of his vehicle, and struck the camera with a rock several times before pushing it over and driving away. Investigators reportedly captured the damage on video.
The station's report says Ribadeneira didn't stay away for long. Police say he returned a short time later in a truck, attached a strap to the camera, and attempted to drag it down the street — an effort that ended when the strap broke. Phoenix Police ultimately charged him with one count of criminal damage stemming from the incident.
A $47,000 Repair Bill and a Felony Charge
The damage to the camera amounted to more than $47,000, per the same account. That figure carries real legal weight in Arizona: under state law, intentional or reckless criminal damage exceeding $25,000 is classified as a Class 3 felony, according to Kolsrud Law Offices, with a presumptive sentence of 3.5 years and up to 8.75 years in prison for a first-time offense.
The camera Ribadeneira allegedly targeted sits in a 15 mph school zone, where Phoenix's photo safety cameras are programmed to trigger citations for vehicles going 5 mph or more over the posted limit — a stricter threshold than the 11 mph over used on regular traffic corridors, per MayesTelles PLLC. That low bar for school zones has been a point of frustration for some drivers since the program's citations began.
A Camera Program Already Under Fire
This is not the first Phoenix speed camera to be attacked since the city relaunched its photo enforcement program earlier this year. In March, a camera on Thunderbird Road in North Phoenix was shot with gunfire and later removed by police following repeated acts of vandalism.
Phoenix brought its 17 automated photo safety cameras back online as part of a $12 million contract with Mesa-based vendor Verra Mobility, according to Ramos Law, folding the program into the city's Vision Zero Road Safety Action Plan after pausing photo enforcement in 2019. The city pays Verra Mobility a flat $3,000 per month for each operational camera, plus an additional $20 for every paid citation the system generates, per the Phoenix New Times.
The rollout has generated a striking volume of activity. During a 30-day warning period from Feb. 23 to March 24, cameras recorded more than 70,000 speeding events before drivers received anything beyond a mailed notice, the Phoenix New Times reports. Once full civil fines starting at $250 began on March 25, cameras logged roughly 132,000 more speeding events through late May, resulting in over 17,000 mailed citations, according to MayesTelles PLLC.
Legal Exposure and Political Pushback
Drivers who receive a mailed violation notice in Arizona are not legally required to respond or identify themselves as the driver, though non-response can prompt the city to send a process server and add service fees, per the Arizona State Legislature. The vandalism allegations against Ribadeneira, however, expose him to far steeper consequences than any civil fine — a felony charge carrying years in prison rather than a few hundred dollars.
The backlash against Phoenix's cameras extends beyond individual incidents of vandalism. Arizona lawmakers introduced Senate Concurrent Resolution 1004 earlier this year, seeking to put a statewide ban on automated photo enforcement before voters, as Hoodline has reported. The city has defended the program on safety grounds, pointing to Arizona Department of Transportation data showing speeding contributed to 417 traffic fatalities statewide in 2024.
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