Cyrus Farivar reports in ars technica:
"It was hovering, I would never have shot it if it was flying. When he came down with a video camera right over my back deck, that's not going to work. I know they're neat little vehicles, but one of those uses shouldn’t be flying into people's yards and videotaping."
The way William Merideth sees it, it’s pretty clear-cut: a drone flying over his backyard was a well-defined invasion of privacy, analogous to a physical trespassing.
Not knowing who owned it, the Kentucky man took out his shotgun and fired three blasts of Number 8 birdshot to take the drone out.
"It was just right there," he told Ars. "It was hovering, I would never have shot it if it was flying. When he came down with a video camera right over my back deck, that's not going to work. I know they're neat little vehicles, but one of those uses shouldn’t be flying into people's yards and videotaping."
Minutes later, a car full of four men that he didn’t recognize rolled up, "looking for a fight."
"Are you the son of a bitch that shot my drone?" one said, according to Merideth.
His terse reply to the men, while wearing a 10mm Glock holstered on his hip: "If you cross that sidewalk onto my property, there’s going to be another shooting."
The men backed down, retreated to their car, and waited for the police to arrive.
"His only comment was that he hoped I had a big checkbook because his drone cost $1,800," Merideth added.
The Kentuckian was arrested Sunday evening in Hillview, Kentucky, just south of Louisville and charged with criminal mischief and wanton endangerment. He was released the following day. The Hillview Police Department did not immediately respond to Ars’ request for comment.
A measured approach?
The report of the downed drone comes a month after Ars reported on a similar incident in Modesto, California. But in that case, the drone operator was flying his drone over his parents’ farm, and it was shot down by a neighbor.
Here, Merideth, who operates a local trucking company, said that he had seen "two or three" different drones in his backyard previously over the last year and was disturbed by their presence. "What recourse do we have?" he asked.
The 43-year-old man claimed that law enforcement officials, including the county jailer, told him privately that they agreed with his actions. "The people that own the drones and the people that hate guns are the only ones that disagree with what I did," he said. "Now, if I’d have had a .22 rifle, I should have gone to jail for that. The diameter of those things are going to come down with enough force to hurt somebody. Number 8 birdshot is not. Number 8 is the size of a pinhead. The bottom line is that it's a right to privacy issue and defending my property issue. It would have been no different had he been standing in my backyard. As Americans, we have a right to defend our rights and property."
So what’s next in this bizarre tale?
"We have a lawyer and there's a court date and then there's going to be a hearing," Merideth said. "It's not going to stop with the two charges against me, which I'm confident that we'll get reduced or get dismissed completely."
And what would Merideth like to tell this errant drone operator when he meets him again?
"I would just like [him] to get some education on his toy and learn to respect the rights of the people," he said. "It's fine and dandy, and I think it's cool there's a camera on it, but just take it to a park or something—he's not a responsible drone owner."
UPDATE Friday 11:30pm CT: David Boggs, the drone operator, contacted Ars to say "Nobody cussed him," and that "We drove 3 different vehicles."
6 comments:
The act of shooting was irresponsible. He shoulda used 00 buck, a guaranteed drone-downer.
Shooting it down was the right thing to do....let's nip this in the bud. No drones hovering around private dwellings.
I don't want to be perceived as being a redneck, but I've already decided that I will shoot down a drone in my backyard. And why weren't the drone operators charged with assault?
I sympathize with the shooter. This is a horrific and very unnerving invasion of privacy. The issue comes when someone is tracking a drone with a gun, fires, and misses... only to hit a building, house, person, airplane or whatever beyond the target. It's going to happen really soon, and it's not acceptable. Maybe a drone tazer or something... I don't know what the answer is, but people do need to be able to combat this robotic nuisance while not putting the public in danger with their retaliations.
Because its using air space and ypu are not the owner of said space, people ate getting away with a clear invasion of ypur privacy. If this was a man looking in your windows to see what he can steal or rape... he would be arested without a thought so why dont we see drones in this same way. No one knows the owner of the drone or his agenda. He could be looking for toys because he abuses children. He could be looking for a woman sun bathing because he is a rapist. He could be checking out the house to see when people are home for he is a thief. In short, its over your property and you are entitled to have privacy.
I repeat this as well...shooting it down was the right thing to do....let's nip this in the bud. No drones hovering around private dwellings, why honestly why?
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