A Staten Island MAGA activist with piles of speed camera violations had his case tossed — and earned sympathy from the local district attorney — on Monday morning after turning himself in for blocking automated enforcement cameras with bouquets of fake flowers in a stunt that endangered residents of the Rock.
On Monday morning, art-activist Scott LoBaido was handcuffed and charged with two counts each of tampering with the cameras and obstructing governmental operations, both misdemeanors, and taken to the Richmond County Supreme Court where a judge adjourned the case in contemplation of dismissal, and will fully drop the charges if LoBaido stays out of trouble until August.
District Attorney Michael McMahon said he sympathized with the perp, calling the Department of Transportation's speed cameras "omnipresent" and adding that LoBaido’s actions were “not the crime of the century.”
"Like most Staten Islanders, I loathe the omnipresence of speed cameras, of which we seem to have way more than our fair share of compared to the other boroughs," the otherwise law-and-order McMahon said in a statement to Streetsblog.
He suggested that he begrudgingly even went through the motions in this case because of his hatred of the cameras, which, nonetheless, "does not give me, Staten Island’s District Attorney, nor any other resident of our borough, the right to intentionally disrupt their operation and decide what functions of our local government are allowed to exist and which do not."
One legal expert pointed out that McMahon’s support for a dismissal of the charges against LoBaido is a clear example of the legal system minimizing the importance of a crime committed by a driver. (The DOT estimated LoBaido 14 camera systems with his fake flowers, which he mockingly called a "beautification project.")
“The District Attorney's office is trivializing the importance of both speed cameras and the importance of compliance with, not only speed cameras, but with not obstructing the administration of justice for the safety of the general public,” said Adam White, a lawyer who represents clients who have been injured or killed by car drivers.
“It's remarkable that a district attorney would say something like that,” added White. “The fundamental duty of a district attorney is to see that the laws are followed, not weigh in on whether they like the law or don't like the law.”
In addition, McMahon's statement — oddly for a prosecutor — suggests a misunderstanding of the role of speed cameras in saving lives and the danger to same caused by those who obstruct them. In addition, Staten Island actually has the lowest density of speed cameras per square mile, according to the DOT.
After his dismissal on Monday morning, LoBaido mocked the justice system, gloating and continuing his long-standing narrative that he is a champion of the working class. In a video later posted to Instagram, he called out DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodríguez, and begging President Trump to get speed cameras out of Staten Island.
“It increases the speeding instead of decreasing it,” said LoBaido in the video, posted under the caption, "Somebody's got to do it..."
He claimed that the cameras are "everywhere on the island sucking the hard working man’s money out of his pocket.”
LoBaido’s statement is riddled with falsities. The automated enforcement cameras, known as “speed cameras,” only exist in school zones around the city, and have proven to be effective in decreasing speed where they are placed.
It's unclear if LoBaido, a serial violator of the law, will be able to keep out of trouble so that his sylvan sin can be expunged from his record. In addition to making headlines last month for getting arrested protesting congestion pricing, his truck has been hit with 43 school-zone speeding tickets and five red light tickets since 2022.
But, of course, automated enforcement camera tickets do not count against a driver's record, so LoBaido is free to keep driving, especially since the district attorney did not present any evidence of LoBaido's recklessness.
DOT spokesperson Vin Barone pushed back on LoBaido’s lies.
“We have no interest in ‘Leadfoot’ LoBaido’s opinion on street safety," Barone told Streetsblog. "Anyone with a vehicle that’s received 28 school zone speed camera violations over nine months has made clear their apparent willingness to endanger their fellow New Yorkers,” said Barone.
Speed cameras on Staten Island have been framed by the borough’s residents as a mere “money grab” since their implementation. The cameras, which penalize drivers who exceed the posted speed limit by 11 or more miles per hour, have become a symbol for people like LoBaido of an obstruction of freedom.
But the cameras save lives. Since 2022, in locations where cameras ticket speeding drivers, the DOT recorded a 94 percent reduction in speeding. In the same timeframe, on corridors where cameras are active, the department observed 14 percent fewer injuries and fatalities. And unlike serial scofflaws like LoBaido, most drivers who get one or two camera tickets change their behavior with 74 percent of violators getting no more than one or two tickets per year.
It is drivers like LoBaido that pose the greatest risk to the safety of New Yorkers. He is part of the group of around 12,000 drivers who received more than 20 tickets in 2023 – these super-scofflaws are five times more likely to be in a crash that results in death or critical injury than the ordinary driver, according to DOT.
“Speeding is a deliberate intentional act,” said White. “If you're getting 30 or 40 speeding violations in a span of a year or two or three, you know damn well you’ve got a lead foot, you know that you're going over 10 miles an hour above the speed limit on school streets and residential streets and that poses extraordinary risks and harms.”
Just last year a Staten Island resident, Usman Chughtai, a passenger in a car, was killed when the driver smashed at high speed into several buildings before fleeing. And in 2022, a recklessly speeding teen driver killed his three passengers in a crash. A search of the Staten Island Advance website brings up dozens of stories of horrific with the simple search term "speeding driver."
Advocates stress that the cameras are needed to discourage this type of purposeful reckless driving.
"Speed safety cameras save lives. Last year, over 250 New Yorkers were killed in traffic crashes, and speed often means the difference between surviving a crash or not. Speeding kills, and vandalizing these cameras only enables and empowers reckless drivers to speed, leading to more crashes, injuries, and fatalities. New York City must ensure these cameras are operational and protected at all times,” said Ben Furnas, the executive director of Transportation Alternatives.
Scott LoBaido did not respond to Streetsblog's request for comment.
