Man shoots down drone hovering over his backyard

[UK2K]

Kentucky man William Merideth has no mercy for drones hovering in his backyard.

"It was hovering, I would never have shot it if it was flying. When he came down with a video camera right over my back deck, that's not going to work. I know they're neat little vehicles, but one of those uses shouldn't be flying into people's yards and videotaping."

...arrested for criminal mischief and wanton endangerment. He also had to pay $1,800 for the drone he destroyed.

What's your opinion on this? Do you own the space above your house? How far up? Or do you consider this trespassing?

[KyrieTheFuture]

**** that, you stop above my house you're probably spying on me. Down it goes.

[UK2K]

link?

Nothing personal, I don't trust your selective quoting

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/kentucky-man-shoots-down-drone-hovering-over-his-backyard/ar-AAdGg2x

All good. I hear ya.


The 43-year-old man claimed that law enforcement officials, including the county jailer, told him privately that they agreed with his actions. "The people that own the drones and the people that hate guns are the only ones that disagree with what I did," he said.

[Lebron23]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDXuGQRpvs4

Drones are only good at delivering Pizza.

[Velocirap31]

I think he's justified. The owner of the drone is guilty of voyeurism in my opinion.

[9erempiree]

The Property Rights of Airspace

By Alan R. Romero from Property Law For Dummies

In property law, owning land includes owning the earth under the surface and air above the surface. While ownership under the surface theoretically extends to the center of the earth, ownership of the air above the surface doesn

[DCL]

there are international air space laws. if you fly a drone into the air space of another country, it'll probably be shot down if they see it. no military will be confused when they play these spy games.

but what are the rights of a retail toy drone owner?

this is another example of technology far outpacing the law.

clearly, there is some deep invasion of privacy if the drone is hovering only a few feet above your property.

but what if it was 100ft or 200ft above? how can that height be estimated or proven by someone on the ground? it'll be a tricky court battle if it's a he said, she said thing because it'll be pretty hard to prove how high the craft was flying.

the most simple law to go at it right now is probably to ban all toy drones / personal flying crafts (like rc helicopters) in all residential areas except in designated areas or park space.

[9erempiree]

there are international air space laws. if you fly a drone into the air space of another country, it'll probably be shot down if they see it. no military will be confused when they play these spy games.

but what are the rights of a retail toy drone owner?

this is another example of technology far outpacing the law.

clearly, there is some deep invasion of privacy if the drone is hovering only a few feet above your property.

but what if it was 100ft or 200ft above? how can that height be estimated or proven by someone on the ground? it'll be a tricky court battle if it's a he said, she said thing because it'll be pretty hard to prove how high the craft was flying.

the most simple law to go at it right now is probably to ban all toy drones / personal flying crafts (like rc helicopters) in all residential areas except in designated areas or park space.

It's really not as tricky as you think. If a shotgun/rifle can bring down a drone, then the drone is too low.

Also, 100 or 200 feet is low in my opinion.

[UK2K]

[QUOTE=9erempiree]The Property Rights of Airspace

By Alan R. Romero from Property Law For Dummies

In property law, owning land includes owning the earth under the surface and air above the surface. While ownership under the surface theoretically extends to the center of the earth, ownership of the air above the surface doesn

[UK2K]

It's really not as tricky as you think. If a shotgun/rifle can bring down a drone, then the drone is too low.

An M16 has a max effective range of around 550 meters.

That's 1500 feet. Planes fly lower than that sometimes.


Anywhere: an altitude allowing a safe emergency landing without undue hazard to person or property on the ground; Over Congested Areas: an altitude of 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a horizontal distance of less than 2,000 feet; Over Populated Areas: an altitude of 500 feet AGL;

[DCL]

the height thing would be difficult to prove in court.

drone owner claims drone was 500 or 1000ft above.

home owner claims drone was 20 feet above.

one of those things.

[ShackEelOKneel]

.

What's your opinion on this? Do you own the space above your house? How far up? Or do you consider this trespassing?

To an extend, depends on how violating it is. Planes flying over are also over your house, but not immediately. A drone 40 feet above video taping certainly feels like a violation and I say fair game to bring it down (assuming gun laws allow you to shoot in that area, otherwise a hose may be good). A kid next door flying a kite though that wind happens to have somewhat over your property doesn't feel like a violation though.

[ISHGoat]

This is all super vague.

Technically the homeowner wasn't using the air at the time. Then again, maybe his buckshot was using the air over his home.

I really think there needs to be a clearly defined height. The problem is, nobody will agree on what that is and everyone uses their land differently (grain silos, for example).

I think there is no clearly defined height because up until now we didnt need one. I think incidents like this will trigger lawmakers to decide on the exact terms of personal air ownership.

[9erempiree]

An M16 has a max effective range of around 550 meters.

That's 1500 feet. Planes fly lower than that sometimes.

I understand this but in my opinion, no responsible owner of these rifles would try to bring down a drone that is consistent to the rifle's max feet.

[UK2K]

I think there is no clearly defined height because up until now we didnt need one. I think incidents like this will trigger lawmakers to decide on the exact terms of personal air ownership.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_kfUVZdTkU

Or putting a gun on a drone. How dangerously stupid is that?

[9erempiree]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_kfUVZdTkU

Or putting a gun on a drone. How dangerously stupid is that?

Not good brother.

[ISHGoat]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_kfUVZdTkU

Or putting a gun on a drone. How dangerously stupid is that?


woah that is cool as ***, ii really wonder how we will create and interpret laws regarding owning robots that fire weapons

can you imagine the possibilities?

i for one think that guns on drones/robots is basically military grade weaponry and should follow those same guidelines

and as such, if you fly one of those into range of my backyard where I can see it and shoot it down, itd be no different than if you rolled up to me on the street with gernades or tanks, its basically war

if it didnt have guns attached, then its just trespassing

[ShackEelOKneel]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_kfUVZdTkU

Or putting a gun on a drone. How dangerously stupid is that?

Yeah, that is scary. You could build the thing with gloves on, then go assassinate somebody without your finger prints on it. Not sure how easy it would be to catch the person.

[ISHGoat]

Yeah, that is scary. You could build the thing with gloves on, then go assassinate somebody without your finger prints on it. Not sure how easy it would be to catch the person.

dont let muslims see this but if you dont plan to fly it back, you could just attach some explosives to it

[highwhey]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_kfUVZdTkU

Or putting a gun on a drone. How dangerously stupid is that?
This video reminded me of when ISHers go on their alt accounts to attack someone.

[UK2K]

Yeah, that is scary. You could build the thing with gloves on, then go assassinate somebody without your finger prints on it. Not sure how easy it would be to catch the person.

I was thinking more along the lines of strapping a few blocks of C4 to it and driving it through the White House front door.

Im all about freedoms, but these are getting out of control.

[bdreason]

If I can hit it with a shotgun, it's in my airspace.

[UK2K]

woah that is cool as ***, ii really wonder how we will create and interpret laws regarding owning robots that fire weapons

can you imagine the possibilities?

i for one think that guns on drones/robots is basically military grade weaponry and should follow those same guidelines

and as such, if you fly one of those into range of my backyard where I can see it and shoot it down, itd be no different than if you rolled up to me on the street with gernades or tanks, its basically war

if it didnt have guns attached, then its just trespassing

I imagine our military will be mostly remotely controlled machines within our lifetime.

Some redneck with a gun and some duct tape made a mobile, agile, killing machine. Imagine what our military can come up with.

[Dbrog]

This is BS that it's criminal mischief. No way in hell people should be able to have drones hovering around your shit. However, shooting a firearm at a flying object in a neighborhood is unsafe as shit. This is what he SHOULD have gotten in trouble for.

[UK2K]

This is BS that it's criminal mischief. No way in hell people should be able to have drones hovering around your shit. However, shooting a firearm at a flying object in a neighborhood is unsafe as shit. This is what he SHOULD have gotten in trouble for.

The original article I read said it was in Bullit County, which is south of Louisville. Lots of horse farms there. Probably what I consider a neighborhood, you consider the country.


"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 didn't shoot across the road, I didn't shoot across my neighbor's fences, I shot directly into the air," he added.

"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."

He's got a point.

On the WDRB website, the reader poll has:

90% should not be charged.
8% not sure.
2% should be charged.

[ISHGoat]

I imagine our military will be mostly remotely controlled machines within our lifetime.

Some redneck with a gun and some duct tape made a mobile, agile, killing machine. Imagine what our military can come up with.

Internet is a crazy thing, there are full blueprints out there on how to build a fully functioning nuke. All you need is the nuclear material

[KNOW1EDGE]

Sad world we live in that we encourage and glorify Bruce Jenner mutilating his body and his mental illness.

But we arrest a man who is on his own property trying to protect his family from an intruder.

Thank you Liberal America, thank you, the world is a better place. Dudes cab be chicks, and parents can't protect their children in the privacy of their own homes. Nice.

[Derka]

Those charges should be dropped. Some asshole flies a camera over my yard and just hangs out there, I'd shoot his f*cking drone down too.