The Winnipeg Police Service stands by a photo radar ticket given to a Winnipeg man nearly a year and a half ago, even though the ticket was thrown out in court.

CTV News first brought you the story Monday about how Danial Mercer challenged his school zone speeding fine and won.

His $299 ticket was tossed out last week when the charge were dropped in court.

Mercer explained to a Justice of the Peace and Crown prosecutor his car was outside of the 30 km/h school zone on Harrow Street when photo radar equipment captured it travelling 49 km/h.

Police reviewed the case after CTV News asked for comment on Mercer's ticket being thrown out in court.

Staff Sgt. Rob Riffel with the Central Traffic Unit said the photo radar operator and equipment were not wrong.

"The vehicle was actually inside the school zone," Riffel said. "The Crown made a decision based on what they observed in the photographs. That's their decision."

Mercer fought the charge from April 2015 by using photos from Google Maps Street View, which he said prove his car was out of the zone.

Riffel said different photos from Google Maps show Mercer's car was in line with a manhole on Harrow Street when the camera caught him speeding.

He explained that manhole is in the zone, two meters from the boundary.

"Keep in mind that he's going 49 km/h per hour still in the school zone, so quite a bit further before, he was still speeding within a school zone," Riffel added.

He said the reason Mercer's vehicle appears to be out of the school zone is because the camera used for photo radar zooms in to catch a vehicle's license plate.

"I can see where without that corresponding manhole cover that that vehicle does look much closer to the following intersection than it actually is but the landmarks, they don't lie. That manhole cover hasn't moved.”

Len Eastoe with Traffic Ticket Experts said it's unusual for the public to win photo radar cases in court.

He said Mercer's photo evidence was likely enough to convince the Crown there wasn't a reasonable likelihood of conviction.

"You can't go back and get pictures of the scene later and say this manhole cover matches up so he was in the zone,” said Eastoe. “That evidence should've been in court the day it was going to court then you might've had a decent argument. Now? Days later? No. It's over.”

Mercer maintains his innocence.

“We decided that I was correct with the evidence that I provided and to go back on it now and try to say there’s something different.. it seems a little odd to me,” said Mercer.

Eastoe said the Crown still has the option of reinstating the charge, but he doesn't think it's very likely that would happen and at this point he doesn't think it would be fair to Mercer to do so.

The Crown couldn't be reached for comment on the case.

Even though Mercer won't be paying a fine, police said they hope the ticket will serve as a reminder to him and other drivers to slow down in school zones.

“Now he’ll have that reminder that school zones are for the safety of the students,” said Riffel. “He got that message so we’re happy about that. The fine is irrelevant, the conviction is irrelevant. We want to change driving behaviour, that’s our goal.”

School zones come into effect on September 1st.