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William Merideth, drone shooter. WDRB-TV screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET
We need to talk anti-aircraft weaponry.
More and more so-called enthusiasts are sending drones into the sky. This means that more and more normal humans are becoming enthusiastic about shooting them out of the sky.
Especially, as in the case of William H. Merideth, the drone is hovering over your house.
Merideth, 47, lives in Hillview, Kentucky. As WDRB-TV reports, a neighbor heard gunshots and called the police. Merideth allegedly told the police that a drone was hovering over his house, where his teen daughter (he has two) was sunbathing. So he pulled out his gun and gave it a merry death.
The drone's owner, police say, said he was flying it to take pictures of a neighboring house.
However, Merideth told WRDB: "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 under 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.'"
And then it allegedly was.
Merideth explained: "I didn't shoot across the road, I didn't shoot across my neighbor's fences, I shot directly into the air."
He says that shortly after the shooting, he received a visit from four men who claimed to be responsible for the drone and explaining that it cost $1,800.
Merideth says he stood his ground: "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.'"
There appears not to have been another shooting. However, Merideth was arrested for wanton endangerment and criminal mischief. There is, apparently, a local ordinance that says you can't shoot a gun off in the city, but the police charged him under a Kentucky Revised Statute.
I have contacted both the Hillview Police Department and the FAA to ask for their view on proceedings. I will update, should I hear.
The FAA's recommendations include not flying above 400 feet and "Don't fly near people or stadiums." The FAA adds: "You could be fined for endangering people or other aircraft."
For his part, Merideth says he will sue the drone's owners. He told WRDB: "You know, when you're in your own property, within a six-foot privacy fence, you have the expectation of privacy. 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."
It is, indeed, hard to know whether things that buzz in the sky have positive or negative intentions. Amateur drones disrupted efforts to fight recent California wildfires to such a degree that there's now a $75,000 reward for anyone who identifies those responsible. A Southern California lawmaker has created a bill that would make it legal for the authorities to shoot these drones out of the sky.
On the other hand, medical researchers are wondering if drones could be very useful in being able to quickly transport vital medical supplies.
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It's not hard to have some sympathy with Merideth, if not with his draconian methods of sanction.
This case echoes one from last year when a New Jersey man allegedly took a hovering drone out with a bullet.
But this sort of incident will only get more complicated as companies such as Amazon begin to fly drones that deliver underwear and nail clippers.
Drones aren't supposed to fly over buildings. Surely Amazon's flying machines won't be able to avoid such an event.
Please imagine your neighborhood airspace suddenly full of undergarments, toys, books and other coveted items floating through the air after the drone carrying them was shot down.
Every day will feel like Christmas.
William Merideth, drone shooter. WDRB-TV screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET
We need to talk anti-aircraft weaponry.
Original article from CNET gives drone owners account:
However, the drone's owner, David Boggs, has now come forward to suggest that Merideth's story may not be quite factual.
He has produced a video to WRDB that he says tracks the flight data recorder from his iPad. He said that at no point did the drone fly low over Merideth's property. He insists it never went below 193 feet.
He also disputes that the drone hovered. He said of his flight data video: "We are right now 1 minute, 56 seconds over the drone slayer's house. We're still not on his property line -- we're just now getting ready to cross it. In less than 2 seconds...we are outside of his property, still at 272 feet. He shot the drone here, and you'll see it rapidly lose al ude, and the drone crash. Boom -- there it goes."
http://www.cnet.com/news/man-shoots-...ng-over-house/
Definitely looks like a dude who will shoot anything that crosses his lawn.
That there is some mighty fine shootin'.
Not at all.
More info from a tv stations website. (Sorry i had not seen this earlier.)
Neighbors verify his account.
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 just think you should have privacy in your own backyard," she said.
Merideth agrees and said he had to go see for himself.
“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," Merideth said. "I went and got my shotgun and I said, ‘I’m not going to do anything unless it’s directly over my property.’"
Merideth said he's offering no apologies for what he did.
"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."
http://www.wdrb.com/story/29650818/h...ght-to-privacy
Id do the same thing. The drone owner denies it ever even hovered, yet it seems unlikely he'd have so easily blasted it down if it never stopped moving or came lower than 193 feet.
I don't blame him. This isn't one of those beach situations. You should have the expectation of privacy if your yard is surrounded by wooden fences. The precedent has to be set now before "the sky" in general is seen as free space regardless of where it's over
I doubt it was 10 feet off the ground, but the drone owner sure isn't quick to show his footage, is he?
So what if the drone was outside the property line but angling the camera to film into it?
What about a regular helicopter with a zoom lens flying high but directly over the property?
Nobody tell this guy about Google Earth.
Gonna be tough to write legislation.
Might as well stay in the house in the corner hunched over in fetal position Tbh
Affordable camera drones opening up all type of new opportunities for stalkers and peeping toms.
none of those things can compare to a drone and you know it
Exactly
Of course they can.
, you could stand on a ladder and see into a backyard.
And one of the examples I cited had a drone in it.
If you're going to peep over a fence you at least have to be there in person. There's a reason people don't just grab their recorders and film people in backyards. As far as a drone that's not over someone's property, I'd say just make a required al ude range in residential areas. That's the best I got on that one. And helicopters?! Yeah, just let me grab my helicopter real quick so I can perve on some girls. Not an issue
Just because you can't afford it doesn't make it impossible.
a 40mm Glock is a big ing gun
"I had my 40 mm Glock on me.."
Suddenly locating a few blacks became that much easier for Blake. All they gotta do is follow the drone back to the cuck's house. The dirtier they look the more the wife will enjoy.
Yeah dude I really want one as my next fun purchase..would be fun to shoot IMO
What are you talking about?
True Dat....
I need to look into getting one tbqh.
Sup Wild Cobra
Model 29 FTW
Could some of you trolls make yourselves useful and post photos of the sunbathing girls in question?
pay attention. no one else noticed this, so I brought it up.
Last edited by Bender; 08-03-2015 at 06:48 AM.
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