Lakeland hearing officer dismisses one red‑light camera citation, upholds several others

Hearing Officer Josh Brown ruled on a series of contested red‑light camera citations during a municipal hearing in Lakeland City, dismissing one citation after hearing testimony from the vehicle owner and upholding others with fines or administrative fees.

Brown dismissed a citation for Mark Kantner (violation no. 1242400257611) after Kantner testified under oath that he lives and works in North Carolina, that the vehicle had been left with a small “backyard” mechanic in Lakeland and that he was not driving when the camera recorded the alleged violation. Brown said, “I think in this unusual circumstance, I'm just going to dismiss the citation.” Kantner told the hearing the vehicle was down for repair and that he has employer paperwork and a South Carolina repair receipt showing he had been working out of state around the time of the violation.

The city’s evidence presenter said staff could not transfer liability because the owner did not provide a name from the repair shop and did not have receipts from that shop; the city representative described the shop as small and not cooperative. The presenter told the hearing the city’s position was that without a named driver or documentary proof linking the repair shop to who drove the car, staff could not dismiss the citation.

In a separate contested case involving the vehicle owner identified on the record as Charles Asburn (violation no. 1242400284763), Brown upheld the violation but waived the administrative fee. Asburn told the hearing he is blind and has not driven since August 2022; he said multiple friends and family sometimes drive his red minivan and that he could not identify who was driving on the date of the recorded violation. The city said it had received no transfer‑of‑liability affidavit. Brown explained the statutory process and said, in part, “what the statute requires though is for you to be able to, if you were riding with somebody else, to be able to transfer the liability,” and that liability “goes with the vehicle.” The hearing officer imposed the statutory $158 fine, waived the administrative fee, and granted 60 days to pay.

Other contested hearings resulted in fines and administrative fees. The hearing record shows the officer found a violation and imposed a $158 fine and a $100 administrative fee with 30 days to pay in the cases of Kyle Bryant (violation no. 239064), Summer Farrell (violation no. 78260) and Hector Torres (violation no. 284797); Torres’s case was recorded as a right‑turn violation. In Bryant’s case, the city presenter said Bryant had watched the video and advised his wife was driving and that she had been “flagged through” the intersection; the presenter said the video did not show that.

For the majority of notices on the docket, drivers elected summary disposition. Brown read a long list of last five digits and surnames; for those drivers the city will assess the statutory $158 fine with a reduced administrative fee of $12.50 and provide 60 days to pay as the summary‑disposition option.

Brown told attendees that further appeals beyond the municipal hearing would need to be filed in Bartow County — he mentioned a branch courthouse in Lakeland off Memorial Boulevard — and reiterated that the red‑light process relies on vehicle ownership and registration to identify responsible parties rather than direct proof of who was driving.

The record shows the yellow and red signal timings, vehicle speeds and stop‑bar positions that the city relied on in evidence presentations for each contested case; those specifics are listed in the hearing record for each violation.