Posted on 09/18/2002 9:49:31 PM PDT by Marak
Earlier reports from authorities said that Kambiz Butt ran the tollbooth without paying.
Thursday, September 19, 2002
By BRIGID O'MALLEY, bmomalley@naplesnews.com
The Collier County Sheriff's Office has voided the ticket given to the driver of one of the cars stopped on Alligator Alley last week during a terrorism scare, saying the tollkeeper Wednesday recalled taking the $1.50 from the man.
"She was very nervous at the time," said Collier Sheriff Don Hunter.
He said the tollbooth attendant, who had earlier given a sworn statement that the driver hadn't paid, had spotted the tag on the front of the car which had been given as part of a description to all tollkeepers in the state as a car that needed to be stopped by authorities.
"She became flustered and didn't recall," Hunter said. He said it was a Car Max tag on the front of the car that caught her attention.
Earlier reports from authorities said that Kambiz Butt, 25, the driver of one of the two cars stopped on the Alley on Friday to be checked out for a possible terrorism-related incident, ran the tollbooth without paying.
Alligator Alley was shut down in both directions for 17 hours, and the men, who were headed to Larkin Hospital in South Miami to start work as medical students, were detained between 11:45 p.m. Thursday and 6 p.m. Friday while they were questioned by local, state and federal authorities.
Eunice Stone reported to police that they'd been in a Shoney's restaurant in Calhoun, Ga., on Thursday morning and were laughing about the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and saying that another, even worse, attack was set for Sept. 13, the day they were stopped at Mile Marker No. 92 on the interstate. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation issued the alert.
All three men, Ayman Gheith, 27, Omar Choudhary, 23, and Butt, who are of Middle Eastern descent, have denied talking about Sept. 11 or any attacks on Miami. They've appeared on news shows around the nation since the stop.
But a Collier deputy, Darrel Kehne, on special patrol, looking for the cars and their occupants, spotted the two cars and stopped them. A Collier sheriff's bomb detection dog alerted on the rear of both cars and that brought dozens of officers to the Alley.
Authorities after the daylong investigation, which included a search by a bomb-detecting robot, helicopters bearing special equipment and a thorough scouring of the cars, determined the incident was a hoax. The searches turned up no signs of explosives or bomb-making material.
Deputies, after interviewing the tollkeeper after the stop, wrote a ticket — the fine is $100 plus $26 in court costs — to Butt.
But the videotape at the tollbooth on Interstate 75 also shows a transaction between Butt and the tollbooth attendant, Hunter said. The ticket should be officially voided today, Hunter said.
Hunter said investigators showed the tollkeeper, who'd already given a sworn statement saying Butt's car had run the tollbooth, the video which logs the transaction Wednesday.
"He reached his hand out. She reached her hand out," Hunter said. "There appears to have been a transaction. Then she excitedly waves her hand toward the east. We believe she was trying to flag us down."
Butt contended that he paid the toll, Hunter said.
"It would not be fair not to check it out," he said.
He said the second car did stop and ask if Butt had paid the toll.
Hunter described the toll taker as "nervous" at the time.
"She said she wasn't scared," he said.
David Kubiliun, one of the attorneys representing the men, said they are pleased the ticket was voided.
"My understanding is that it was voided because videotape showed Mr. Butt did pay the toll," Kubiliun said. "He's very pleased. We're all gratified."
Hunter speculated the attorneys will try to take on other aspects of the stop.
"I'm sure their attorneys will say, 'If this was wrong, what else was wrong?' " Hunter said. "But I'm firm on the rest of it."
He said investigators are still running down other parts of the probe, which he didn't disclose.
"We haven't reached any dead ends," Hunter said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Life is too serious for humans to be allowed to live it.
I could be wrong, but I think I heard the driver of the the first car said he only had fifty cents and went through the toll, inferring that the second car would pay the other dollar. Larry King Live??? Maybe, but can't recall. If that was true, the video would show the hand-to-hand transaction, but not necessarily how much money changed hands.
But seriously, why then did the tollkeeper ask for $1.50 instead of $1.00? Also, why did the second car ask if the first had paid?
The toll booth operator gave a false statement, I know that I wouldn't put my name to anything I was unsure of. If she feels that she was pressured to put forth a false statement, she should go to the national media (they would certainly be interested in this story). I wouldn't want to work for employers who pressured me to give false testimony to keep my job (the good thing is that a whistleblower like this could get rid of such supervisors).
If the sheriff was going on her sworn statement, I don't see how his reporting that he had such a statement is a lie (he did have the statement). The toll booth operator may have been mistaken but I would not put my name to any statement until I verified my cash register and the video.
At least this videotape did not disappear as is prone to happen when the tape does not match the description from LEOs.
There was a watch out for them, an alert to the toll booth operators to watch for the cars, the booth operator saw one, flagged the sheriff who followed for several miles before pulling them over (in the mean time the 2 drivers admit to talking to each other on cell phones).
The concerned call from the woman at Shoney's should have been sufficient to stop the men for questioning (which they could refuse). The dog sniffing occurred outside of the car. When the dog hit on a scent, they had justification for a search.
The men were taken into custody and released.
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