April 03–MORRISVILLE — A man from Goldsboro, NC, who was driving out of the Raleigh-Durham International Airport parking garage late Monday was charged with ripping out one of the airport’s license-plate-reading cameras by hand.
According to a police report about the incident, Larry Henry Buchtmann, 62, was driving out of the garage and through the exit plaza when his car hit one of the bollards set up to protect equipment, airport spokesman Andrew Sawyer said.
Police said Buchtmann got out of his car to check the damage, then — for reasons that were not clear — ripped out one of the cameras by hand and damaged its connections. He was arrested shortly before 11 p.m.
The cameras sit on supports about 3 feet off the ground, Sawyer said.
Officers charged Buchtmann with misdemeanor injury to personal property.
The camera was part of a system that reads license plates as cars go into the garage between the terminals and drivers get tickets from a machine. The license number is recorded on the ticket.
If people use walk-up machines outside the terminals to pay for parking, the cameras at the exit plaza lanes read the license plate, the terminal flashes a message that the driver has paid, and the gate goes up without the driver having to open a window or put the paper parking ticket into a reader, Sawyer explained.
Buchtmann was freed on a written promise to appear in court May 1.
Ron Gallagher 919-829-4572@RPGKT
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