Driver gets traffic ticket after posting video to social media

Cellphone video of a traffic violation has a Woodland Park man in hot water.

Michael Dalton posted the video online, and now police are holding him responsible.

Dalton said he captures a lot on his cellphone. He even uses dash cam video while he drives.

“I made that video on a whim,” said Dalton.

But posting it to social media is what got him in trouble.

“It’s crazy, that this is what it’s come to,” said Dalton.

He admitted he rolled through a stop while passing through the parking lot at Trail Ridge at Woodland Park Apartments.

“That video has caused me, well, it’s caused me to realize a lot of things,” said Dalton.

That’s because two weeks after he posted the dash-cam video to Facebook, an officer showed up at his house.

“Even though it’s a private stop sign, we can still enforce traffic violations for running it. Because it was posted, and there was physical evidence, we chose to charge,” said Sgt. Andy Leibbrand, with the Woodland Park police Department.

According to Leibbrand, this may be the first time the department has issued a traffic ticket based on a social media post.

Leibbrand said social media is public domain. Anything shared online can be used as evidence.

Dalton faces more than the traffic violation; reckless driving, harassment and trespassing are also on his ticket. Police couldn’t comment on the charges, citing the ongoing investigation.

But people who work at the Trail Ridge Apartments say they’ve had run-ins with Dalton in the past.

Unlike Dalton, they didn’t want to go on camera.