Kentucky man shoots down drone spying on his daughter in the swimming pool.

[monty]

I read in the Spanish edition of Russia Today a Kentucky man, Meredith William, shot down a drone spying on his 16 year old daughter in the swimming pool.

He saw the drone flying around the neighbors house, but when it flew over his swimming pool to view his daughter his patience ran out. He fired three time with his shotgun destroying the $1800.00 drone. When the drone pilot and friends came to his house he told them if you cross my proprety there will be another shooting.

William was arrested and charged with criminal conduct and unjustified violence for ilegally discharging a firearm. He is confident the charges will be dropped.

[Hitch]

One word: Awesome.

[ximmy]

Found a link with more info.

Hillview man arrested for shooting down drone; cites right to privacyhttp://WDRB.images.worldnow.com/images/8423446_G.jpg (http://WDRB.images.worldnow.com/images/8423446_G.jpg) William Merideth (Source: Bullitt County Detention Center)


http://WDRB.images.worldnow.com/images/8427080_G.jpg (http://WDRB.images.worldnow.com/images/8427080_G.jpg) William Merideth explains what happened the day he shot down a drone flying over his property.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Hillview man has been arrested after he shot down a drone flying over his property -- but he's not making any apologies for it.
It happened Sunday night at a home on Earlywood Way, just south of the intersection between Smith Lane and Mud Lane in Bullitt County, according to an arrest report.
Hillview Police say they were called to the home of 47-year-old William H. Merideth after someone complained about a firearm.
RELATED: Drone owner disputes shooter's allegations; produces video he claims shows flight path (http://www.wdrb.com/story/29670583/update-drone-owner-disputes-suspects-claims-produces-video-claiming-to-show-flight-path)
When they arrived, police say Merideth told them he had shot down a drone that was flying over his house. The drone was hit in mid-air and crashed in a field near Merideth's home.
Police say the owner of the drone claimed he was flying it to get pictures of a friend's house -- and that the cost of the drone was over $1,800.
Merideth was arrested and charged with first degree criminal mischief and first degree wanton endangerment. He was booked into the Bullitt County Detention Center, and released on Monday.
WDRB News spoke with Merideth Tuesday afternoon, and he gave his side of the story.
"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 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.’"
That moment soon arrived, he said.
"Within a minute or so, here it came," he said. "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," he added.
It wasn't long before the drone's owners appeared.
"Four guys came over to confront me about it, and I happened to be armed, so that changed their minds," Merideth said.
"They asked me, 'Are you the S-O-B that shot my drone?' and I said, 'Yes I am,'" he said. "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.'"
A short time later, Merideth said the police arrived.
"There were some words exchanged there about my weapon, and I was open carry – it was completely legal," he said. "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."
Merideth said he was disappointed with the police response.
"They didn’t confiscate the drone. They gave the drone back to the individuals," he said. "They didn’t take the SIM card out of it…but we’ve got…five houses here that everyone saw it – they saw what happened, including the neighbors that were sitting in their patio when he flew down low enough to see under the patio."
Hillview Police detective Charles McWhirter says you can't fire your gun in the city.
"Well, we do have a city ordinance against discharging firearms in the city, but the officer made an arrest for a Kentucky Revised Statute violation," he said.
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.
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."
"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."
For now, Merideth says he's planning on pursuing legal action against the owners of the drone.
"We’re not going to let it go," he said. "I believe there are rules that need to be put into place and the situation needs to be addressed because everyone I’ve spoke to, including police, have said they would have done the same thing."
"Because our rights are being trampled daily," he said. "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."

[ximmy]

and the other side of the story...

http://www.wdrb.com/story/29675427/drone-owner-responds-to-claims-of-privacy-invasion

INTERVIEW: Drone owner responds to claims of privacy invasion
http://WDRB.images.worldnow.com/images/8447185_G.jpg (http://WDRB.images.worldnow.com/images/8447185_G.jpg) David Boggs showed us the drone and said most of the damage didn’t happen because of the shot.






HILLVIEW, Ky. (WDRB) – The man flying the drone that was shot down Sunday -- creating nationwide headlines -- told his side of the story on Thursday.
David Boggs owns the drone and says he was the one flying on Sunday when Willie Merideth shot it down. Merideth cites his right to personal privacy as the reason he shot the drone down and claims the drone was hovering no more than 10 feet over his home.
“The bottom line is we didn't do it,” Boggs said in an interview with WDRB on Thursday, “We didn't hover, we didn't go down, we didn't do any of that. There's no way I'm going to fly below the trees the second day I owned it.”
Boggs says he bought the drone just a few days before it was shot down. He said he was planning on using it to shoot video of his kids riding motocross. He says Sunday was a practice session.
“There's no other explanation other than the truth,” Boggs said.
In video that Boggs claims shows the flight path an altitude of the drone, it shows the drone not dropping down to 10 feet.
"We are now 193 feet above the ground,” Boggs described as he showed us the flight path. “This area here is the world-famous drone slayer home, and this is a neighbor's home, and our friends live over here, and over here, and over here. You will see now that we did not go below this altitude -- we even went higher -- nor did we hover over their house to look in. And for sure didn't descend down to no 10 feet, or look under someone's canopy, or at somebody's daughter."
The track does show that the drone hovered for around 30 seconds near Merideth’s home but was at an altitude in excess of 200 feet.
Merideth says he shot the drone down with bird shot; an ammunition he says would not have caused enough damage to bring the drone down at an altitude of more than 200 feet.
“His claims are that the drone never got below 200 feet,” Merideth said on Thursday. “Number 8 bird shot is not going to take anything out at 200 feet.”
Boggs showed us the drone and said most of the damage didn’t happen because of the shot.
“The damage is not from the shell,” Boggs said. “It’s from the fall. When he shot, he hit one of the propellers.”
But the question remains, why was Boggs flying in the area in the first place?
“Number one, I was having fun with my friends and family,” Boggs answered. “Also my friend was in Vegas and he wanted me to fly over and get video of house.”
Boggs showed us a text message exchange he had on Sunday that backs up that story.
But Merideth stands by his claim that his privacy was being invaded.
“When someone is in the wrong they try and find a way to cover it up,” said Merideth of Boggs' claims.
Both Boggs and Merideth say they want to see the video that the drone captured but neither seems to know what happened to the memory card inside the drone that saved the video.
“The reason we don’t have the live footage is because when we got there where the drone was shot down and a neighbor had gone and retrieved it and the SD card was gone,” Boggs said. “We want that SD card.”
When asked, Merideth didn’t have an answer either.
“We have no idea where that's at,” he said.
Merideth is charged with wanton endangerment and criminal mischief for shooting down the drone and firing a weapon in a residential area. He is due in court again in September.

[Cebu_4_2]

Both Boggs and Merideth say they want to see the video that the drone captured but neither seems to know what happened to the memory card inside the drone that saved the video.
“The reason we don’t have the live footage is because when we got there where the drone was shot down and a neighbor had gone and retrieved it and the SD card was gone,” Boggs said. “We want that SD card.”
When asked, Merideth didn’t have an answer either.
“We have no idea where that's at,” he said.

How convenient.

[monty]

Ximmy, thanks for the updates. Turned out to be quite an interesting story. I was busy with other things so I didn't search for any updated information.

[Jewboo]

One word: Awesome.

That's three words.

:rolleyes:

[gunDriller]

if the drone owner doesn't want to get shot down, he should fly like a hummingbird on Sudafed and LSD.

very erratically, with lots of jerky unpredictable movements.


i saw a baby hummingbird drinking some water the other day :)

[Cebu_4_2]

if the drone owner doesn't want to get shot down, he should fly like a hummingbird on Sudafed and LSD.

very erratically, with lots of jerky unpredictable movements.


i saw a baby hummingbird drinking some water the other day :)

I think butterfly fashion would make things more challenging.

[Tumbleweed]

That guy from Kentucky did a better job with his shotgun than these guys did with their machine guns. These guys drones were faster and further away though. These guys are pretty good but it sure took a lot of ammo.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYW7CeW1Zjw

[Jerrylynnb]

I see what's coming next - DRONE BUSTERS! (small rockets guided by a heat signature that will impact anything in its general forward direction that is a few degrees hotter than ambient air, and will explode with minimal power, but sufficient to disable a drone - can be shot from the shoulder of anyone who wants to remain unknown - just point at drone and pull the trigger - then discard the disposable launcher (be sure to wear those cheap thin food handling glovettes), and pretend you "don't know nothing" ("who me? I thought I heard a pop of some kind but I didn't see nothing"). Effective up to 500 ft.

[Glass]

if the drone owner doesn't want to get shot down, he should fly like a hummingbird on Sudafed and LSD.

very erratically, with lots of jerky unpredictable movements.


i saw a baby hummingbird drinking some water the other day :)

Was it laced with Sudafed and LSD?

[Serpo]

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/05/17/article-2325996-19D49069000005DC-287_634x466.jpg

[mick silver]

http://tse2.mm.bing.net/th?id=JN.HioNFsp9Y2ozjPou8VGPqg&pid=15.1

[Dogman]

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/05/17/article-2325996-19D49069000005DC-287_634x466.jpg

See Osoab came for a dip !

;)