Posted on 10/29/2015 6:53:40 AM PDT by Gamecock
Back in July, a Hillview, Kentucky man shot down a drone that was flying over his property. He was arrested and charged with criminal mischief and wanton endangerment for destroying the $1,800 unmanned aerial vehicle.
Now, a judge has cleared him of all charges.
William Meridith, 47, said his right to privacy made it ok to shoot down his neighbor's drone. The owner of the drone said he was simply flying it to get aerial images of another neighbor's house.
Meredith told WDRB about the incident:
"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.' 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 in their back yard. I went and got my shotgun and I said, 'I'm not going to do anything unless it's directly over my property.'"
Earlier this week, Bullitt County District Court Judge Rebecca Ward ruled that since witnesses testified the drone was flying "below the tree line", Meredith has a right to shoot it down.
"He had a right to shoot at this drone, and I’m gonna dismiss this charge," said Ward.
The drone pilot, David Boggs, provided video evidence to Ars Technica that his drone was actually flying over 200 feet above the ground.
Here’s another news report showing the flight path and altitude from the flight data.
just for the record, how visible is a drone at 200’ incoming, departing or directly overhead?
Low power laser pointers will blind most commercial CCD imagers as long as it is pointed at them, but they will not destroy or damage them.
Have you ever duck hunted?
I believe CAMP(campaign against marijuana plants) had to stay above 500 feet.
I see where you’re going, but I don’t buy it. If the neighbor flies a drone over my house with the express purpose of photographing my kids, I’ll shoot it down.
That’s most certainly NOT the same as an airliner flying over at 35,000 feet. Or an errant helicopter or hot air balloon.
If your cat wanders onto my property holding a camera, starts calling out, “Cheese!” and taking snapshots, I’ll chase it away.
This is simple common sense.
yes, regularly with a long barreled high standard 12 ga full choked magnum
I, personally, would not attempt a duck beyond 60-70 yards, for ethical reasons, but I would not hesitate for a drone.
I have no desire to shoot airplanes out of the sky, nor will I shoot at a drone that is up around 400 feet or so.
(Well, I may shoot at it, but I have no great hopes of hitting it, and if I do hit it, it would be luck.)
I'm not being obtuse, but I believe in absolute property rights and see no reason why I should allow a flying camera to hover over me and watch what I'm doing.
Period.
I will shoot, shovel and shut up.
I did not think of that aspect. Think of a 20X zoom at 200'! My disgust for this 'peeping tom' just increased exponentially.
He's on record as complaining the memory card of the actual flight was "missing" when he recovered his spybot.
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