Driver sent ticket for car that wasn’t even his – furious ‘I don’t think it’s right to pay $250 for something I didn’t do’

A DRIVER was threatened with the removal of his vehicle after refusing to pay a fine that wasn’t his.

Tom Campanelli of Westchester County, New York, was the target of a car crackdown in Suffolk County against drivers who ignore school bus laws.

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Just over a year ago, the Bus Patrol equipped 5,000 school buses in the area with cameras to catch drivers in the act if they illegally pass a stopped school bus that is dropping off or picking up children.

It was on one of these cameras that Campenelli was caught illegally overtaking a bus.

The fine for the violation is $250, which Campenelli immediately knew was improperly imposed on him.

“I was very surprised,” he told ABC News affiliate WABC.

“It wasn’t my car,” he said of the photograph allegedly taken of his vehicle passing the school bus.

In the photo taken by the bus camera, a white Jeep was photographed passing a stopped school bus in Suffolk County.

However, at the time the image was captured, Campanelli and his white Jeep Grand Cherokee were 65 miles away in Katonah, where he works.

Furthermore, the offending vehicle in the image was separated from the bus by six lanes of traffic on the other side of the highway.

Under state law, this is still a violation, WABC states, as school buses with red lights and stop signs cannot be passed, regardless of which side of the road the vehicles are on.

“I don’t know the laws. I just know that the vehicle is not mine,” said Campanelli.

“It’s very blurry,” he said of the image before adding that the vehicle’s license plate “doesn’t have some of the same characters as my license plate.”

“I don’t think it’s right to pay $250 for something I didn’t do,” he added.

However, when he approached authorities to appeal the fine and demand a trial date, he was allegedly threatened with late fees and the loss of his vehicle.

“They denied the trial date. They said they didn’t receive it on time,” the driver alleged before adding that he had a receipt proving that his order was shipped within the specified time.

“They could boot my car, tow it and send me to collections,” Campanelli said when discussing threats allegedly made by authorities when he refused to pay the fine.

With nowhere to go, the driver contacted the news agency, which ended up working in his favor.

School bus ticket laws

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA), it is illegal in all 50 states to pass a school bus when it is stopped, the red strobe lights are flashing, and the stop sign is on.

“All states require that traffic in both directions stop on undivided highways when students enter or exit a school bus,” the agency’s website says.

Florida launched a program in May 2024 that will cite drivers who illegally pass stopped school buses with the help of AI-powered cameras to capture images of the violators, citing a key law.

In Florida, Chapter 316, Title 19, says:

• Any person using, operating or driving a vehicle upon the roads or highways of this state shall, when approaching any school bus displaying a stop sign, come to a complete stop of such vehicle while the bus is stopped, and the vehicle shall not overtake the bus school until the sign is removed. Anyone who violates this section commits a movable offense, punishable as provided in chapter 318.
• Any person who uses, operates, or drives a vehicle that passes a school bus on the side on which children enter and exit when the school bus displays a stop sign commits a moving violation, punishable as provided in Chapter 318, and is subject to a mandatory hearing under the provisions of s. 318.19

Source: NHSTA, Florida Legislature

Less than 48 hours after Suffolk County was contacted by WABC, Campanelli had the fine overturned, received an apology and a letter confirming the error.

“They analyzed the video, saw that it wasn’t me and canceled everything,” he said.

In a comment to the news outlet, Suffolk County said the bus patrol has installed cameras on buses free of charge.

It further revealed that the program collected about $12 million in fines last year, with $6.6 million going to the county.

Of the 85 thousand tickets issued, around 6 thousand were disputed, including Campanelli’s.

The US Sun has reached out to Bus Patrol and Suffolk County for comment.

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