In a surprising act of vandalism, three teenagers from South Carolina found themselves in custody. They’re accused of cutting down a surveillance camera pole and smashing its battery pack with a hammer, resulting in an explosive fire, authorities reported.
The incident occurred in the early hours of August 15 on Harmony Church Road, located in Chester County’s Edgemoor area. This information comes from the Chester County Sheriff’s Office, as detailed by WBTV.
Investigators revealed that the teenagers cut down the pole before proceeding to attack the equipment. The hammer blows ignited the battery, causing significant damage estimated at over $5,000. WBTV reported on this costly destruction.
The suspects, Blaze Fuller, Samuel Carlisle, and James Ryerson, all aged 19, now face charges of criminal conspiracy and malicious injury to personal property, based on jail records seen by News Media.
All three were apprehended on August 18. Fuller was released a day later after securing a $5,000 bond. His alleged accomplices, Carlisle and Ryerson, also posted bond and were released on August 19, according to jail documentation.
The blaze left a nearby resident worried it could have turned into something far worse.
“My house is over here,” Edgemoor resident David Cunupp told WBTV, pointing toward his property. “Could’ve caught fire and burned if it wasn’t for the rain.”
Cunupp said he was not necessarily opposed to the cameras but questioned the role of a private company in running the surveillance technology.
“They could be used for good, but I don’t see where a private company’s got access or running it instead of the DMV or the government,” Cunupp told the outlet.
News Media reached out to the Chester County Sheriff’s Office for comment.
The alleged fiery takedown comes as tensions over Flock’s automated license plate reader network mount nationwide, with privacy advocates, local officials and lawmakers challenging the spread of vehicle location databases.
An aerial view shows a Flock Safety camera mounted on a light pole in Burbank, Calif., on Aug. 3, 2026. (Getty Images)
Opponents of the cameras have condemned vandalism and instead called for the technology to be challenged through lawful action.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, launched an investigation into Flock this week, saying the company has built an “unprecedented national surveillance network” with more than 120,000 cameras across 49 states and more than 20 billion vehicle scans each month.
RELATED: American Airlines Expands with 7 New International Routes
A Flock Safety camera is mounted to a light pole Aug. 3, 2026, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
“Instead of serving discrete local investigations, as contemplated by our constitutional processes and safeguards, these camera networks harness artificial intelligence to pool what they capture into a national database that customers can search,” Hawley wrote in a letter to Flock CEO Garrett Langley.
Flock spokesperson Paris Lewbel previously told News Media the company would respond directly to Hawley’s questions and looked forward to explaining “the safeguards built into our platform and how law enforcement agencies use Flock to solve crime and find missing people.”
Protesters rally against the use of Flock cameras April 3, 2026, outside City Hall in Troy, N.Y. (Jim Franco/Times Union via Getty Images)
The dispute has played out through local government action in Texas. Hood County officials voted to end their relationship with Flock and later directed that the county’s three cameras be disconnected and covered until they could be removed.
Constable John Shirley shared photos of the covered cameras in a Facebook post, calling it “a good day for the Freedom of the people of Hood County.”
He said the cameras had been “constantly scanning and recording regular folks just going about their day.”
FILE – Officials in Hood County, Texas, cover a Flock automated license plate reader camera after the county ended its relationship with the company. (Hood County Constable, Precinct 2 Facebook)
“That kind of permanent, warrantless tracking doesn’t belong in a free society,” Shirley wrote. “Privacy isn’t optional, and mass surveillance isn’t how we do things here.”
In a later Facebook post, Shirley said he supports technology that helps police solve crimes, locate missing people and find dangerous suspects but argued public safety cannot end the conversation about individual liberty.
“We can have good policing and still insist on boundaries,” Shirley wrote. “We can use technology without giving government unlimited surveillance capability.”
The debate has already pushed communities from Texas, Arizona and nationwide, to reconsider or end their Flock contracts, citing worries about data sharing, privacy and misuse.