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Ky. man arrested after shooting down $1800 drone hovering over sunbathing daughter

By Douglas Ernst - The Washington Times - Thursday, July 30, 2015

A Kentucky man shot down an $1800 drone hovering over his sunbathing daughter and was then arrested and charged with first degree criminal mischief and first degree wanton endangerment.

“My daughter comes in and says, ‘Dad, there’s a drone out here flying,” William H. Merideth, 47, told a local Fox News affiliate reported Tuesday. The Bullitt County father shot at the drone, which crashed in a field near his yard Sunday night.

The owner of the drone claims he was only trying to take pictures of a friend’s house, the station reported.

“I went and got my shotgun and I said, ‘I’m not going to do anything unless it’s directly over my property,’” Mr. Merideth said, noting that the drone briefly disappeared when his daughter waved it off. “Within a minute or so, here it came. 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.”

Mr. Merideth said four men tried to confront him after the drone was shot out of the sky, but then changed their minds when they saw his personal firearms.

“I had my 40 mm Glock on me and they started toward me and I told them, ‘If you cross my sidewalk, there’s gonna be another shooting,’” Mr. Merideth told the station.

The police arrested the homeowner soon afterward.

“There were some words exchanged there about my weapon, and I was open carry — it was completely legal,” he said, the station reported. “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.”

Mr. Merideth said he is looking into what legal action he could take in response to the incident. He said he only fired his weapon because it was hovering over his home.

“Our rights are being trampled daily,” he said, the station reported. “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.”

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the drone thing. we're entering uncharted waters.

First let me say that the word drone is overhyped. before it got popular with the use by the military, it was nothing but an RC chopper or plane the hobby guys use all the time.

anyway, it's really tricky situation, but honestly i'm on the homeowners side. That could've easily been some pervert, plus it's over his property.

but, i dunno what the rules are with air space and the FAA and all that. I know amazon got legal rights and mapped out their new drone delivery service and such.

like i said, uncharted waters.

I'd have done something too, but not fire a shotgun into the air (not really knowing how close the other homes were in this story).

I applaud the guy for his efforts, I'd want to protect my daughter from flying peeping toms too. Just not sure of the neighborhood and how much sense it makes to shoot a 12 gauge into the air. If you miss, what goes up must come down.

I don't think I'd have arrested him though. I'd sooner arrest the peeping toms.

I will be buying an attack drone so if someone flies above my property I can attack with my drone and knock theirs out of the sky. Then I can call the cops and say they trespassed on my property with their drone and broke mine. Money in my pocket, Peepers out of business, duct tape to fix my attack drone for next time.

I feel like the next evolution of battle bots are drones. We've already seen the one that was able to fire a handgun, when can I make my drone have a spike, a mechanical lifting arm, and a flame thrower?

Drones are a good idea and great tech, but there definitely needs to be some rules to prevent perverts from peeping. I've already heard stories of drones hovering outside of bathroom and bedroom windows; where privacy should definitely be expected.

As for this guy, what he did felt right I'm sure but without being there and knowing what really happened I don't know who was right or who was wrong. If they were viewing his daughter remotely like peeping toms, then they got what they deserved... Unless there is footage on board the drone to prove one way or the other, then I'd say there is no case for that.

Not sure how I would feel about this, I am big on privacy though and agree that the drones need some hefty rules.

Amazon is working on using drones ... though I have no idea how they are going to open the door to my porch to put any packages for me inside.

Amazon's Drones Are For Real
http://www.forbes.com/sites/modeledbehavior/2015/07/29/amazons-drones-are-for-real/

Question is, who recovered the drone. If it was the guy who shot it down, I hope he recovered the memory card for evidence of peeping.

What if it was just a live feed back to those 4 guys and a receiver? A camera transmitting is a lot less technology to put on one of these devices than a recording software package and a storage device.

Most of your cheap ones have on board recording, because it's dirt cheap versus video transmission, which requires a good remote with those same capabilities, so it's cheaper to put it on board and not add the transmission components.
Remember, the cheaper drones are fly by sight, not camera.


Now this one was supposedly $1200, so it probably had video transmission, but they still often have memory on-board for recording. Not sure about the ones that fly by tablet apps though.

Looks to me like someone invented a new tool for pedophiles. I'd shoot it down too. It's not like bird shot will remain ballistic in the air like bullets.

I was just skeet shooting and this big one came flying by lol

I agree. The word "drone" just adds a level of scariness to it


I don't honestly know what the air rights are above normal residential property but I bet I'm going to find out in the not too distant future.

I guess I kind of understand the use of a drone if you are stalking somebody or targeting somebody like the paparazzi. I do not understand it at all for the purposes of peeping or just getting your jollies. Have these people never heard of the internet?

I suspect that the draw is in the doing of it.

AND... if it weren't for enterprising fellas like these, YouTube would be about half as big as it is now.

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.


Here is one alternative if the drone is within 60'.

https://www.birdbgone.com/super-talon-net-launcher.html


The Super Talon Ultra Net Launcher is a humane capture net used to trap and release birds. It uses compressed air cartridges to launch a weighted net up to 60 feet. The net launched has a 2” mesh that can be used to trap any size bird.
The Super Talon net can be re-used over and over and comes complete with a carrying case and all the necessary components.

Snag two drones and this little puppy will pay for itself.

So, instead of shooting a drone out of the sky and just the drone crashing, you propose you shoot it with a weighted net, so the drone and the weighted net crash to the ground. Is it possible to add a gold brick to the net first, just to make the crash more interesting?

Even with the net you still have this little issue.

Wonder if you aimed a laser pointer at the camera lens if you could blind the person flying the drone.

Too bad coach b isn't still around, we could try to convince him to fly a drone for testing.

They're both in the wrong.

The guy should have called the police, instead of firing his weapon.

The people flying the drone should have politely knocked on the door and let them know that the drone may be around because they are taking pictures of a nearby house (if that's truly what they were doing, otherwise, that's really creepy and they deserved what they got).

I totally agree with Swish that we are entering a new era of privacy concerns, both with the government, but also from creepers trying to spy on neighbors.

I'm guessing the percentages are low that anyone will be flying a drone over your house to watch you in a bathing suit 40.

The drone shooting itself is probably incidental. Over your property? That sounds legal to me.

You can't threaten to shoot someone unless there's a really good "reasonable man" reason. That's definitely against the law.

He should have dragged the drown into the house and claimed to have shot it in the living room after it flew in through an open window

But his gardener works shirtless- and I hear his taught, browned body is absolutely ripped....

I set out cardboard cutouts of women in bathing suits to lure drones to my yard. But hey, I'm buff enough to lure them myself, least that's what Clem said.

You know something, you are right about him being buff. Just the other day when I put my foot on his back to tighten my laces, I noticed he is ripped.

I'm starting to understand why he charges you so much.

haha

Glad you added the "his" or this have been taken a different way, and 40 being flooded with PM requests for pictures.

Yeah.... had to 'thread the needle' carefully there...

maybe make it "taut" as well ... in case someone starts asking for lessons ......

I get flooded with picture requests as it is!
Oh, you are talking about the gardener.