back to article Bloke cuffed for blowing low-flying camera drone to bits with shotgun

A father of two girls didn't take too kindly to a camera-equipped quadrocopter hovering over his house and snooping on his kids – so he blasted it out of the sky. Now he's facing charges of first-degree criminal mischief and wanton endangerment. William Merideth, 47, was relaxing at his home in Hillview, Kentucky, US, on …

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  1. Roq D. Kasba

    I've spotted a market

    Thin, strong threads hanging loosely between a tree at the end of the garden and the rooftop - fly through them with a rotary wing and they'll immediately get caught all around the propeller shafts making the units pretty much useless and fall from the sky in a nice semi-controlled way. Then you own a drone.

    1. Charles 9

      Re: I've spotted a market

      Not unless it's a guarded rotor, in which case it'll deflect off the guard and continue flying.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Treble damages and jail time

    This guy deserves to pay treble damages and spend 6 months in jail for his crime. In addition his right to carry a hand gun permit should be revoked as this guy clearly has mental issues and should not be in possession of any firearms with his state of mind.

  3. phil8192
    Facepalm

    Atta boy, Mr. Merideth.

    Whenever the local phone company, cable television company or electric utility need to go into my back yard to access the utility pole, they ring my doorbell and ask permission first. If the drone operators had a legitimate reason for flying over William Merideth's house, such as taking aerial photos for a real estate listing, they could have politely knocked on his door and that of other residents in the neighborhood in advance, identified themselves, presented credentials, and let them know what they were doing. If they had done that, they'd still have their $1800 toy.

  4. Henry Wertz 1 Gold badge

    Within his rights

    I would say he's 100% within his rights. The drone's worth $1,800? Welp, maybe you should not be tresspassing your expensive drone onto other peoples property. I don't have a gun, but fully intend to net and keep any unauthorized drones that fly onto my property (if I'm in a good mood and can see the operator, I'd warn them ONCE to not keep flying it on my property.). As for difficulty of hitting the drone - one commenter commented he used birdshot (which is safe when it falls back out of the sky, unlike a slug or shell.) This also would make it much easier to hit a drone than with a shell -- the shell has one chance to hit or miss the drone, the buckshot or birdshot both scatter, and I assume it'd only take one or two flecks of shot to disable the drone.

  5. stringyfloppy

    Are people expected to know what a drone is, and be able to differentiate it from other things? Are we supposed to be able to tell when it's close enough to the ground above our houses that it might hurt someone (people have been killed by "toy" radio controlled helicopters - it's not that unusual) and we should notify the police?

    These things are basically new, and apparently there are a lot of morons controlling them. I don't own a gun, but I'd take the garden hose to one of these things in a heartbeat of it was over my property. If the jackasses flying it call the police, I'll tell them I had zero idea what it was and thought I was under attack. "A 'drone?' You mean like an alien drone? Yeah, I thought it was something dangerous like that, a drone. I hope there isn't a queen around anywhere..."

    If authorities are going to let people fly these things around like fools, they also have to let us have absolutely no idea what the things are, and do whatever we can think of to knock them out of the sky, just as if it was a Stephen King book. I'm not going to restrain myself just because some dork paid $1,800 for the menacing aircraft he ordered online.

    1. Fred Flintstone Gold badge

      I'd take the garden hose to one of these things in a heartbeat of it was over my property.

      LOL. If you get the same kind of pressure as we get from Thames Water it would be safe from that whilst flying close enough to cut your hair :).

  6. JB77

    Next time just call the cops :)

    Drones are considered to be aircraft by the FAA. Go here and read why:

    http://www.faa.gov/news/updates/?newsId=76240

    The homeowner may own some rights to the airspace over his property but the control of the airspace belongs to the FAA. At least here in the USA. This means its illegal to shoot at any aircraft: Drones, Boeing777, police helicopters, Navy jets, blimps, etc. All aircraft are subject to the the control and laws of the FAA regarding flying.

    What will happen to him? He will pay a fine for discharging a weapon unlawfully in public, repay the drone owner for his loss AND the FAA may or may not decide to prosecute him.

    He SHOULD have just called the cops instead of taking the law into his own hands.

    JB

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Next time just call the cops :)

      "What will happen to him? He will pay a fine for discharging a weapon unlawfully in public, repay the drone owner for his loss AND the FAA may or may not decide to prosecute him."

      Regardless of what the FAA says, any object within the confines of one's household property would be considered trespassing. The homeowner could challenge the FAA ruling on the grounds that it breaches his expectation of privacy, also granted by federal law. Since it's a law-vs-law issue, it could easily end up in the federal courts.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Yes, it's true, Americans love to shoot things

    Especially whiney whirring things belonging to douchebags.

  8. JustWondering
    Meh

    Well ...

    I can understand why the police would want to discourage citizens from shooting down drones with cameras on them, in case one of their own was objected to in a similar manner.

  9. R Hugh Sirius

    Kentucky man, Jed Clampett, shoots down drone. One of his missed shots struck oil. Now off they go to Beverly Hills.

  10. Gordon Stewart

    Nutjob?

    "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.'"

    Ah yes, that would be an entirely rational response?!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Nutjob?

      Ah yes, that would be an entirely rational response?!

      In context it is. The non-rational equivalent would be simply starting to shoot. This guy issued a warning, which is a controlled action indicating a property line that should not be crossed without invitation.

      1. Intractable Potsherd

        Re: Nutjob?

        In an area where many people own guns, it is indeed a perfectly rational response.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    How much airspace above your house is considered property?

    We have that for whole Countries... but how about your house?

    How high must you fly before being considered trespassing?

    What if a douchebag was flying a Cessna, taking pictures? Would you shoot it then?

    Honest questions, no pun or sarcasm intended. One day I might fly a drone, or a plane. Or shoot a drone outta my backyard myself.

    1. Charles 9

      Re: How much airspace above your house is considered property?

      In the US, the limit is about 4-500 feet. Above that is considered commercial airspace controlled by the government. That said, the FAA has authority over all aircraft regardless of height. And since UAVs are considered by them to be aircraft, this slips into a legal gray area: regulation of aircraft vs. protected expectations of privacy, both federally regulated.

      1. TheVogon

        Re: How much airspace above your house is considered property?

        "In the US, the limit is about 4-500 feet"

        Nope - in the US it's 83 feet.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: How much airspace above your house is considered property?

          No, it's 500. I should know because I sold my air rights above a certain height (I think it was 100) to the Navy (because I live near a Navy jet base). I can't sell what I don't own.

          You're trying to cite United States v. Causby, but that ruling stated that while the US could take the airspace above in this case 83 feet, Causby had to be compensated for what essentially amounted to eminent domain. IOW, the air rights were Causby's to begin with but that also meant the government could apply legal avenues to obtain those rights. United States v. Causby also affirmed that airspace above a reasonable height (which at present is marked at 500 feet) belonged to the public and therefore fell under government regulation.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Good on 'im!

    I'm a Brit that really doesn't like the idea of citizenry in general being allowed firearms (I'd rather the dickheads in society not also be carrying firearms, ta very) but that said, I'm utterly supportive of the gentleman in shooting down the drone in those circumstances. If I owned a house and some cretin flew a drone over my garden, I'd be straight out there with a hosepipe or net, or anything else that I thought might take it out of the air, and never mind any damage to the drone. Drone operators should respect peoples desire for privacy and avoid flying them near houses. It's disgusting that the gentleman who downed the drone is being charged with anything at all, IMHO.

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