One too many.
Posted on 01/06/2016 11:56:38 AM PST by jazusamo
A Kentucky man who had his $1,500 hobbyist drone shot out of the sky last year by an agitated neighbor has filed a federal lawsuit in hope of having the courts define the rights of aircraft operators versus property owners with respect to unmanned aerial vehicles.
Attorneys for the drone owner, David Boggs, filed a complaint for declaratory judgment and damages in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky on Monday, nearly six months after the man’s camera-equipped, remote-controlled aircraft was brought down by a shotgun-wielding neighbor, William Merideth.
Police initially cited Mr. Merideth with charges of criminal mischief and wanton endangerment for admittedly firing three blasts from his shotgun after he spotted the drone above his property last July, but Bullitt County Judge Rebecca Ward later dismissed those charges after concluding there had been an invasion of privacy and that Mr. Merideth was in the right.
Mr. Merideth, who has since dubbed himself the “drone slayer†and has marketed T-shirts with that slogan, claimed the drone had been hovering no more than 10 feet above his home when he grabbed for his gun and shot thrice, causing the aircraft to come crashing down.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Father who shot down drone hovering over his house as his daughters sunbathed is arrested
Ping.
thrice
nice
If that drone really was at 200 feet (which I doubt) that Dad is a crack shot. :)
A relative of mine belongs to senior citizen’s police support group. During a monthly meeting earlier this week, the police told them that the teenager in the street flying a drone over people’s back yards may not be just playing around with a new Christmas toy. Thieves are using drones to scope out back yards, etc. looking for items they can steal. Kids that are so inclined are using their drones to find bikes that they can take.
One too many.
Good to know I have some AAA in my den, then.
Makes perfect sense that the criminal element will put drones to use, even flying at higher altitudes they can get great photos with digital cameras.
Maybe. Maybe not. Probably not.
By the government’s insistence that all ‘drones’ must be registered with the FAA, then the drones must receive the same ‘rights’ and ‘protection’ that any aircraft registered with the FAA receives.
Unintended Consequences.
”. . . in hope of having the courts define the rights of aircraft operators versus property owners with respect to unmanned aerial vehicles.”
This constitutionally clueless drone owner is unthinkingly opening Pandoras Box imo.
More specifically, regardless that the states have never delegated to the feds, expressly via the Constitution, the specific power to regulate the use of drones, I would not be surprised if this drone owner finds an anti-state sovereignty activist federal judge who legislates new unconstitutional INTRAstate federal drone laws from the bench.
This is the one that was shot down while taking pictures of the man's daughter in her bathing suit?
I would have shot it down too.
I thought about this too, but the public air space doesn’t start until you are 500 feet up.
I’m waiting for a drone to fall and hurt somebody or damage property...and see how that is handled.
The FAA controls all the air above 500 feet...have for a long time.
Yep, the same one and I think he did the right thing. It’s the only way I know of to stop a peeping Tom in the air.
You send a noisy thing over my property, I do what I have to do to protect myself and family. I don’t know what the thing is going to do, so shooting it down is the right action.
There is a real danger inherent in these drones overflying your property. Someday, rascals will use them to carry dangerous payloads over your property. Imagine them carrying dog poop and releasing it on you and your deck, or worse. What about poisonous chemicals or flammables? Or a hammer as in “The Roadrunner” cartoons. This is in addition to the peeping Tom cameras spying on you. Maybe they’ll be used to attack your pets in your back yard. Anything you can imagine, will probably take place some day.
The airspace over our property goes up to but not including 18,500 feet. After that the feds own it. I wonder if they make multistage shotgun shells. Any drone over our property is invasion of privacy.
Charge him with being a pedophile. Or peeping Tom.
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