Teens accused of destroying Flock camera until battery exploded, igniting fire near homes: report

Three South Carolina teenagers were arrested after allegedly cutting down a Flock Safety camera pole and beating its battery pack with a hammer until it exploded and burst into flames, authorities said.

The attack unfolded during the early morning hours of Aug. 15 along Harmony Church Road in the Edgemoor area of Chester County, according to WBTV, citing the Chester County Sheriff’s Office.

Investigators said the teens hacked down the pole before striking the equipment with a hammer, setting off the battery fire. The sheriff’s office estimated the damage at more than $5,000, WBTV reported.

Blaze Fuller, Samuel Carlisle and James Ryerson, all 19, were arrested and charged with criminal conspiracy and malicious injury to personal property, according to jail records reviewed by Fox News Digital.

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Fuller was booked Aug. 18 and released the following day after posting $5,000 bond. Carlisle and Ryerson were also booked Aug. 18 and released Aug. 19, records show.

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.

Fox News Digital 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.

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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.

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"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 Fox News Digital 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."

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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."

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"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.