Fla. Busts Guy for Protesting Traffic Light Cameras

Don't like cameras enforcing traffic lights? Well, if you live in Apopka, Florida, you might want to keep that pet peeve to yourself. Mark Schmidter, 66, was out protesting the city's use of cameras on Saturday, handing out fliers to passing motorists with a petition on one side and information about an upcoming city council meeting on the other, when police approached him and ultimately arrested him, The Newspaper reports. Police told Schmidter he didn't have a permit to protest.

A former county judge saw the incident unfolding, and approached police to say he recognized Schmidter. The roofing contractor had been arrested once before for handing out fliers on the steps of a courthouse. That case made it to the state's second-highest court, and Schmidter is considering appealing to the US Supreme Court. "That's the last person you need to mess with," the judge told police. But they ignored him—and heckles from other protesters—and took Schmidter in, charging him with misdemeanor obstruction of an officer without violence. (More Mark Schmidter stories.)