Payton Guion

New York

Senior Reporter at Citywire

Investigative reporter @Newsday. Why shoot the breeze about it when you could be about it?

Articles

Hempstead school bus camera tickets legitimate, vendor says

1 week ago | newsday.com | Payton Guion

The Town of Hempstead says its school bus camera vendor has determined that 80,000 citations issued within school districts that never signed up for the program are valid, months after a town official said the program was "potentially overreaching its legal authority."In a recent statement responding to Newsday inquiries, Town Attorney John Maccarone said the vendor, BusPatrol, conducted "a thorough review ...
Nassau halts hearings on Hempstead school bus camera tickets

1 month ago | newsday.com | Payton Guion

Nassau County's Traffic and Parking Violations Agency has stopped hearing cases for school bus camera violations, even as the Town of Hempstead continues to issue tickets under the controversial program. Documents viewed by Newsday show the countytraffic court, which adjudicates town bus camera tickets, was consistently hearing cases through Jan. 30 before abruptly stopping.
Suffolk sent bus camera ticket to man who's never been to NY

2 months ago | newsday.com | Payton Guion

Jim Vennard was already at work in St. Charles, Missouri, early one morning last September when, more than 1,000 miles away in Stony Brook, a dark-colored Audi SQ8 SUV passed a stopped school bus. Weeks later, Suffolk County accused the 61-year-old engineer, who also drives a dark-colored Audi SQ8, of the violation. He initially thought the ticket he got in the mail was a scam. "I have never been to New York ... My car has never been to New York," Vennard told Newsday.
Hempstead school bus camera tickets backed by unlawful evidence, filing alleges

Mar 7, 2025 | newsday.com | Payton Guion

The Town of Hempstead used unlawful evidence against drivers accused of passing stopped school buses, including from bus cameras meant for security, not traffic enforcement, lawyers suing the town allege in new court papers. The filing, made this week in Nassau County Supreme Court, is the latest in an ongoing class-action case against Hempstead's controversial school bus camera program.
Refunding $20M in school bus camera tickets could fall to Town of Hempstead

Feb 14, 2025 | newsday.com | Payton Guion

The Town of Hempstead could be on the hook for some $20 million in refunded school bus camera tickets because of an amendment to its contract with BusPatrol that limits the company's liability if the town were found to be issuing tickets without authority. Over the last two years, the town wrote roughly 80,000 tickets within school districts that do not participate in the program, a finding that prompted Town Supervisor Don Clavin to demand BusPatrol refund any associated fines.
Hempstead, BusPatrol face new lawsuit over bus camera tickets following Newsday investigation

Jan 28, 2025 | newsday.com | Payton Guion

Two drivers ticketed by school bus cameras in Town of Hempstead have filed a lawsuit seeking to throw out all tickets issued since the program launched in 2022. The complaint filed Friday draws heavily on reporting from a Newsday investigation published last week and alleges the town is illegally ticketing drivers and violating their right to due process.
Hempstead Town: Toss, refund BusPatrol tickets improperly issued in school districts that didn't join program

Jan 24, 2025 | newsday.com | Payton Guion

The Town of Hempstead says school bus camera tickets written to drivers in school districts that never agreed to participate in the town’s program should be thrown out, questioning their legality and calling for all money from those tickets to be refunded. The action is a direct response to a Newsday investigation published online Thursday that found the town issued more than 80,000 school bus camera tickets over the past two years in four school districts that never joined the program.
Town of Hempstead issued 80,000 school bus camera tickets in districts that don't participate in program

Jan 23, 2025 | newsday.com | Payton Guion

The Town of Hempstead issued more than 80,000 school bus camera tickets over the last two years in and around school districts that never agreed to participate in the controversial program, a Newsday investigation found. The tickets, issued within the Baldwin, Hempstead, Lawrence and Valley Stream 13 districts, represent more than a quarter of all school bus camera citations issued in the town in 2023 and 2024, according to data provided by town officials.
70% of Suffolk BusPatrol camera tickets issued on streets children don't cross

Nov 13, 2024 | newsday.com | Payton Guion

Barbara Lorge was heading to Deer Park for a manicure, like she does every two weeks. After leaving her Dix Hills home, Lorge, now 78, turned right onto Deer Park Avenue, a divided highway of two traffic lanes on either side of a median, with driveways and side streets branching off. Across the grassy chasm that morning in September 2022, Lorge saw a school bus stopped for a pickup. Cars behind the bus waited for students to board.
BusPatrol camera tickets: See where in Suffolk they were issued

Nov 13, 2024 | newsday.com | Payton Guion

More than 70% of the school bus camera tickets from 2023 were issued on streets that students do not cross when getting on or off the bus, an exclusive Newsday investigation found, raising questions about whether the bus camera program is primarily about student safety or producing money for the county. The map below shows the locations of roughly 60,000 tickets issued where students do not cross. Click a point for more information or use the magnifying glass to search tickets issued by ZIP code.