Man Pays For Act Of Shooting Neighbor’s Drone

There are still many aspects to consider when it comes to the laws concerning the use of drones, although we do know that national parks do not welcome drones. Well, what if you get irritated of your neighbor who continues to fly his or her drone around the home, sometimes crossing over to your side and driving you nuts? Well, a man from California who could not really stand it anymore and was highly suspicious of such drone activity, that he decided to take a shot at his neighbor’s drone – using a shotgun, of course, While the drone was knocked out of the sky, that particular act landed himself in court.

Eric Joe dropped by his parents’ place in Modesto, California, for Thanksgiving in 2014, and after decided to bring his drone out for a flight, a loud blast knocked out his homemade hexacopter. Upon investigation, he saw his parents’ neighbor, Brett McBay, who did admit that his son son shot the drone down due to suspicions of it being a CIA surveillance vehicle.

Eric Joe sent an email to McBay in the same day, “It was nice to meet you and your son. I wish it could have been under different circumstances, but I have to give credit to the McBay school of marksmanship. Still, I’m pretty bummed that I just built this hexacopter only to have it shot down. Also, it was a little disconcerting to know that the spread of the birdshot/buckshot was in my direction. In any case, I had a chance to test the components of the downed hexacopter. Good news is that the more expensive components (on the inside of the frame) are intact. Stuff on the outside of the frame took the most damage.”

McBay did not want to fork out the amount that Joe wanted for compensation, and the matter was duly sent to the small claims court. A judge ruled in Joe’s favor earlier this May, and ruled that McBay had to pay more than $850, which is small change considering how the penalty for shooting down a drone might actually be up to 20 years in prison assuming the Federal Aviation Administration classifies UAVs as aircraft.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Robots
Tags: Drones