Idiocy is it's Own Motive.

 

Suspect held, but motive unclear in camera-van killing

by JJ Hensley - Apr. 21, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

It has come under attack from protesters, politicians and even a pickax-wielding resident, but sentiment against Arizona's photo-enforcement program had not turned to bloodshed until Sunday night.

Doug Georgianni, 51, of Cave Creek, was shot and killed while sitting in a van alongside the highway and monitoring cameras that snap photos of speeders.

Phoenix police arrested Thomas Patrick Destories, 68, on Monday in connection with the murder. Police said Destories was not photographed speeding, but they refused to speculate on any possible motives.

"Whether you agree or disagree with photo enforcement, what happened last night, folks, was an act of cold-blooded murder," state Department of Public Safety Director Roger Vanderpool said at a Monday news conference.

The shooting led both photo-enforcement providers in Arizona, Redflex and American Traffic Solutions, to suspend use of the mobile-enforcement vans until they can reassess their security procedures.

Investigators are still trying to piece together what happened Sunday night. They offered this version of events.

Georgianni, a four-month employee of Redflex, was in a photo-enforcement van parked on a dirt shoulder off the Loop 101 near Seventh Avenue shortly before 9 p.m., when an SUV slowly crept up alongside Georgianni's van, and someone inside opened fire.

A witness saw an older-model, two-toned SUV slowly pull away and exit the freeway.

Later, DPS Lt. Mark Remsey, who used to live in the neighborhood, thought the description of the SUV sounded familiar and drove through the area about 2:30 a.m. Monday. He saw the truck parked in front of a house.

"It kept going through my head that I recognized that unusual Suburban for some reason," he said.

Police watched the house until a man, later identified as Destories, moved the truck behind the house in "an obvious attempt" to hide the vehicle, Phoenix police Sgt. Andy Hill said.

Police arrested Destories as he left on his motorcycle a short time later.

Georgianni, a former golf pro in Prescott Valley and a graduate of Scottsdale's Chaparral High School and Arizona State University, leaves behind his wife, Jean, his parents, six siblings and a host of nieces and nephews.

"Everyone at Redflex is absolutely heartbroken at the loss of Doug Georgianni," said Jay Heiler, a Redflex spokesman.

Destories was booked into the Fourth Avenue Jail on suspicion of first-degree murder.

He has not received any tickets through the DPS photo-enforcement program, records and police say.

Doug Smith, a former employee at Destories' desert-tour business, said Destories had purchased a reflective license-plate cover for one of his cars and deemed it effective after the cameras snapped Destories but tickets never followed.

Public sentiment against photo enforcement started growing in September when the DPS began rolling out its program, which was to have 60 fixed cameras and 40 mobile units around the state. The agency had cameras operating at 36 fixed locations and in 42 mobile units before DPS administrators quit expanding the program in January.

State legislators are considering bills that could dismantle the program.

Rep. Sam Crump, R-Anthem, who has sponsored such legislation, released a statement on Monday calling for everyone to "reduce the war of words on this topic."

Authorities said Georgianni's death will not stop the program.

"Photo enforcement's not going away," DPS Lt. Jim Warriner said.

That has been the objective of photo enforcement's vocal opponents from the outset, said Jan Strauss, a former Mesa police chief who added that Sunday's shooting smacked of vigilantism.

"If you hate photo radar, and you want to have an impact, you shouldn't be doing anything like vigilantism," she said. "If you don't like it, go to the public forum. Start a public debate. Going out on your own, breaking the law doing destructive things isn't the answer."

Strauss was referring to Thomas Munroe Townsend.

Townsend, 26, took a pickax to a photo-enforcement camera near 59th Avenue and the Loop 101 late last year. He was sentenced to one year of probation and was issued a $3,500 fine but not before photo-enforcement critics came out in support of him.

"When you create an atmosphere where someone comes at a camera with a pickax, and people are talking about giving him a medal, logically it's going to continue to escalate, and it feeds the feeling that vigilante activity is appropriate or OK," said Josh Weiss, a spokesman with American Traffic Solutions, which is based in Scottsdale.

The vocal opposition that has emerged in Arizona, the first state in the country to employ a statewide photo-enforcement program, was not far from the minds of officials who tried to keep the memory of Georgianni at the forefront Monday.

"This is one of the most senseless murders that I've seen," Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris said. "It feels like we lost one of our own police family in this senseless tragedy."