Back in July we reported that a man from Kentucky by the name of William Merideth shot down a drone that was flying over his house. He was then arrested for first-degree criminal mischief but as it turns out, it looks like the judge presiding over the case has cleared Merideth of all charges.
According to Judge Rebecca Ward, “He had a right to shoot at this drone, and I’m going to dismiss this charge.” While this sounds like it could be the end of the situation, it might only be the beginning as according to the drone’s pilot David Boggs, the judge did not even bother looking at the footage of the drone before ruling.
Boggs believes that the footage will prove that he was flying his drone well over 200 feet, which goes against the testimony of witnesses who claimed that it was flying below the tree line. According to him, “What happened in court was unbelievable—I don’t know how to describe how I feel about it. Before [the hearing] was 20 minutes old, she dismissed the wanton endangerment charge. She said, ‘I don’t think anybody’s life was in danger, and I’m going to dismiss that.'”
Merideth has his own take on things. Speaking to ArsTechnica, Merideth said, “That video he shows, that thing looks a mile high, but considering that no one else besides him had the drone and footage in their possession for four days—we don’t know which drone that video was made from. That doesn’t show the drone made two or three other passes.”
So what’s going to happen now? According to Boggs, it seems that he is now considering filing a civil suit against Merideth, “My original thing was for him to just replace the drone, but it’s much bigger than that now—he lies and then doubles down on his lies. I’m not inclined to wait for that any longer—I will probably meet with my attorney this week and we will start that process.”