Kentucky Man Arrested After Shooting Down Drone; cites right to privacy

....guess someone's Amazon order isn't getting delivered.

I can't hover a helicopter over someone's back yard at 10' without permission. Helicopters have pilots and N#'s. I'd say a 12 gauge is appropriate for a pilotless, unregistered spy toy.

What happens if I take a slingshot and knock it out of the sky ? I certainly would have been doing something myself .. For legal authorized purposes .. GREAT .. but not for what it appears was being done .... I am behind this guy 5000 % .. a drone does not belong hovering over any ones yard, let alone a teen sun bathing, unless law enforcement are in control of it and only then, if they have a search warrant having been signed and served.

I say good shot! I don't want one over my property either and would probably take the same measure.

What people aren't seeing is that the man was arrested for firing a shotgun in a neighborhood... Not for shooting down the drone

The owner of drone should have been arrested for operating it in violation of FAA regs.

Privacy is not mentioned either in that pesky Constitution. We have determined through law that if you use a fire arm to damage the property of another, you are subject to incarceration. Teenage daughters aside, anyone who is on public property can look over your fence.

Common law (which our legal system draws from) describes property ownership as being from a point in the center of the Earth, extending upward through the property lines into outer space. Common law from the Middle Ages could not have known air transportation, so the legislature wades in and makes changes for the greater good of society. You property rights stop where aviation begins.

Unless your name is Putin, you cannot shoot down aircraft because you don't like it, and not expect to be punished. Your chance of prevailing in Court against those over flying your yard are going nowhere. You need privacy? Go inside and draw the curtain.

as always there will be no concrete laws until something bad happens where people die
its sad but true...

Until we get some federal guidelines with some teeth, dealing with minimum and maximum flying heights, and what controlled airspace is (fires, crime scenes, etc) we're going to have problems. This has got to be a federal standard. I'm all for states rights, but this can't be decided at a state level. I'm also not opposed to requiring transponders in the drones so they can be traced back to their human handler. Some sort of GPS in the drone might allow law enforcement to get to the handler in time before they leave. I really worry we're going to have a plane or helicopter crash because of a contact issue with a drone, then Congress will get all hyped up and pass law(s) that are written in the heat of battle so to speak, and not done with any input from aviation experts. That would be a 2nd disaster.

use a bug zapper wand...I bet the electricity would do wonders to the drone

I cannot say it any better than Clement Roberts.

Criminal mischief 1st degree:
A person is guilty of criminal mischief in the first degree when, having no right to
do so or any reasonable ground to believe that he has such right, he intentionally or
wantonly defaces, destroys or damages any property causing pecuniary loss of
$1,000 or more.
http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Statutes/statute.aspx?id=19790


Wanton endangerment 1st degree:
A person is guilty of wanton endangerment in the first degree when, under
circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, he
wantonly engages in conduct which creates a substantial danger of death or serious
physical injury to another person

http://www.lrc.ky.gov/statutes/statute.aspx?id=19734

So, did the shooter have, or believe he had, a right to shoot the drone?
Did his shoot-down create a danger to someone under the crashing drone?

Both are class D felonies, punishable by 1-5 years in prison.
Lawyers, start your billing clocks.

so if someone was about to kill him he should not shoot them BS the cause over rules that.

Get a very long pole. Fix a fly swatter to one end. Use same on drone. Drone downned. No arrest.

A similar incident happened here in middle Tennessee recently. However, the guy didn't shoot it down. He did find out where the owners lived and the owner was arrested for trespassing.

http://newschannel5.video.jrn.com/Murfreesboro-Resident-Faces-Trespassing-Charges-Over-Drone-Use-29173976

to bad the authorities don't realize that low flying by a man made vehicle also poses a danger to the people on the ground. therefore, a minmum altitude law should be enacted for drones at the state level. you can't legally fly an aircraft below a certain altitude over a populated area (without permission) and a drone is just an unmanned aircraft. I can't condone shooting at a drone with a shotgun, however there should be some legal recourse available to the property owner.

Drones are getting out of control, but our gun fetish is way crazier.

Not happy about something? Fire off a few rounds and cry freedumz.

The cops, again, arrested the wrong person.

The idiot fired a gun into an area where people live... He needs to be held accountable... it is idiots like this that kill people and then call it an accident... He needs to be prosecuted to the fullest.

I would be more concerned about a 5 or 10 pound drone (quadcopter) coming down on my head from 50 or more feet, with at least 4 rotors spinning nylon propeller blades and causing slashing and impact damage on my 16 year child or my own body than I would some birdshot that has hit a target and is scattered. Seems under the Kentucky law quoted below,for wanton endangerment, the "drone" operator put other people in danger without their permission by flying it over their persons. Sounds like wanton disregard for safety and conduct that put the person who shot it down at risk of injury or even death by blunt force. Those lithium poly batteries aren't light and those blades are like spinning knives. The police should of, at a minimum also taken the drone operator into custody for violating the reckless endagerment statute.

Ric how about noise ordinances? Property right do not end where aviation begins, when I got my pilot license and was taught about avoiding certain areas and altitudes while flying. If is had been an R/C airplane would you still call it an aircraft and make a Putin joke? Firing a shot gun up straight up in the air that is loaded with game load shot shell isn't any more dangerous then throwing gravel up and letting them fall back down and hit some one. However because it's a "gun", people get all crazy about it.