Posted on 07/29/2015 7:19:24 AM PDT by Rodamala
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Hillview man has been arrested after he shot down a drone flying over his property -- but he's not making any apologies for it.
It happened Sunday night at a home on Earlywood Way, just south of the intersection between Smith Lane and Mud Lane in Bullitt County, according to an arrest report.
Hillview Police say they were called to the home of 47-year-old William H. Merideth after someone complained about a firearm.
When they arrived, police say Merideth told them he had shot down a drone that was flying over his house. The drone was hit in mid-air and crashed in a field near Merideth's home.
Police say the owner of the drone claimed he was flying it to get pictures of a friend's house -- and that the cost of the drone was over $1,800.
Merideth was arrested and charged with first degree criminal mischief and first degree wanton endangerment. He was booked into the Bullitt County Detention Center, and released on Monday.
WDRB News spoke with Merideth Tuesday afternoon, and he gave his side of the story.
"Sunday afternoon, the kids – my girls – were out on the back deck, and the neighbors were out in their yard," Merideth said. "And they come in and said, 'Dad, there’s a drone out here, flying over everybody’s yard.'"
Merideth's neighbors saw it too.
"It was just hovering above our house and it stayed for a few moments and then she finally waved and it took off," said neighbor Kim VanMeter.
VanMeter has a 16-year-old daughter who lays out at their pool. She says a drone hovering with a camera is creepy and weird.
"I just think you should have privacy in your own backyard," she said.
Merideth agrees and said he had to go see for himself.
“Well, I came out and it was down by the neighbor’s house, about 10 feet off the ground, looking under their canopy that they’ve got under their back yard," Merideth said. "I went and got my shotgun and I said, ‘I’m not going to do anything unless it’s directly over my property.’"
That moment soon arrived, he said.
"Within a minute or so, here it came," he said. "It was hovering over top of my property, and I shot it out of the sky."
"I didn't shoot across the road, I didn't shoot across my neighbor's fences, I shot directly into the air," he added.
It wasn't long before the drone's owners appeared.
"Four guys came over to confront me about it, and I happened to be armed, so that changed their minds," Merideth said.
"They asked me, 'Are you the S-O-B that shot my drone?' and I said, 'Yes I am,'" he said. "I had my 40mm Glock on me and they started toward me and I told them, 'If you cross my sidewalk, there's gonna be another shooting.'"
A short time later, Merideth said the police arrived.
"There were some words exchanged there about my weapon, and I was open carry – it was completely legal," he said. "Long story short, after that, they took me to jail for wanton endangerment first degree and criminal mischief...because I fired the shotgun into the air."
Merideth said he was disappointed with the police response.
"They didn’t confiscate the drone. They gave the drone back to the individuals," he said. "They didn’t take the SIM card out of it…but we’ve got…five houses here that everyone saw it – they saw what happened, including the neighbors that were sitting in their patio when he flew down low enough to see under the patio."
Hillview Police detective Charles McWhirter of says you can't fire your gun in the city.
"Well, we do have a city ordinance against discharging firearms in the city, but the officer made an arrest for a Kentucky Revised Statute violation," he said.
According to the Academy of Model Aeronautics safety code, unmanned aircraft like drones may not be flown in a careless or reckless manner and has to be launched at least 100 feet downwind of spectators.
The FAA says drones cannot fly over buildings -- and that shooting them poses a significant safety hazard.
"An unmanned aircraft hit by gunfire could crash, causing damage to persons or property on the ground, or it could collide with other objects in the air," said FAA spokesman Les Dorr.
Merideth said he's offering no apologies for what he did.
"He didn’t just fly over," he said. "If he had been moving and just kept moving, that would have been one thing -- but when he come directly over our heads, and just hovered there, I felt like I had the right."
"You know, when you’re in your own property, within a six-foot privacy fence, you have the expectation of privacy," he said. "We don't know if he was looking at the girls. We don’t know if he was looking for something to steal. To me, it was the same as trespassing."
For now, Merideth says he's planning on pursuing legal action against the owners of the drone.
"We’re not going to let it go," he said. "I believe there are rules that need to be put into place and the situation needs to be addressed because everyone I’ve spoke to, including police, have said they would have done the same thing."
"Because our rights are being trampled daily," he said. "Not on a local level only - but on a state and federal level. We need to have some laws in place to handle these kind of things."
1000 feet is the minimum over "populated areas", 500 over rural areas.
Pull!
Not if you are outside. It’s more of trespassing thing at that point. I don’t know that you are given much privacy while outside.
They have a >10 foot canopy?
Depends on the load, but I've had light bird loads landing on me before, shot from about 60-80 yards away and into the air at clays, kinda felt like small hail/sleet.
Sorry, but I have declared war on the rodent varmints, Originally, I used a bb gun to scare them away, but they just keep kept squeaking at me. I then brought out the 16 gauge, and have made one of their brethren. He has been attached to the area of spoils, and is flapping like a flag on the tree. They're believers now.
The Missouri Ozarks are looking better and better.
“I wonder if one could adapt the magnetron from a microwave oven into a drone zapper?”
Like “Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers”!
Of course I wouldn't lie about any of the events leading up to my action in that kind of situation, but I don't believe that the county sheriff would arrest me nor would a judge find me guilty of breaking a law that doesn't exist.
A guy in my neighborhood has been flying an RC/drone over our houses...
I went out and told him not to be surprised if it didn’t come back at some point if he kept on doing that...
He now flies it over a large open field...
I am guessing that roaming frequency signal jammers are going to become available in the near future to address snooping. But like you said, I sure hope nobody gets hurt from falling drones.
cities political class TAKE rights. The work by “everything is legal until the judge says otherwise.”
IOW if LA enacted a law that said all homeowners HAD TO house illegal aliens, regardless of the law that says otherwise, they would be ok with that because few people would have the money to fight city hall.
They take via lack of opposition funding.
I was actually referring to the guy that went to jail over shooting down a drone. Unless it is against the law in his town to shoot a paint ball gun within the city limits.
Carry on with the war against rats.
Peeping drone, LOL.
Seriously though, a drone with a camera could be a peeping Tom’s dream come true.
How many stories have we heard of people putting tiny cameras in public restrooms, for example?
Don’t think that some pervert hasn’t thought of using a drone for Peeping Tom purposes.
-PJ
drones have a “go home” or “land safe” mode built in. If they lose the signal they land or the go back to their take off point.
What is needed is a hijack signal to crash the invasive drone.
You know what that means. The field of view at 10 feet is much more amenable to viewing under canopies, looking a girls by a pool, looking down in windows.
The simple thing to me is that this progressive inspection of multiple homes/properties wasn’t just to “videotape some friend’s home”....that’s BS.
I am sure that one innovative entrepaneur will come up with one. Would be a great rental device. :)
How many “you can’t live near” laws will have to change to include prohibition from owning or operating drones?
I wonder what it would take to come up with a buffered paintball round for shotgun..
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