Drone operator arrested!

Here is a different page about a drone operator who was arrested. I think he used to be a member on these very forums.
 
Did a video for my daughter of the university she attends as a grad student. I had some initial apprehensions about flying the campus without first seeking permission. My spotter, a recently retired LEO, offered to liaise with campus security.

Turned out that the Campus had a no fly without expressed permission policy, in part because some yahoo football fan with a shiny new drone and no common sense decided to buzz the stadium and field while a home game was in play. Reckless endangerment arguments aside, colleges depend on revenues from sporting events which includes revenues from selling broadcast rights exclusively controlled by the university. Story goes that campus security followed the drone until it landed and then converged on the clueless operator.

So I can see, on one hand, why flying and filming at or near a highly populated event (like a national sporting league draft) would give LEOs tasked with event security cause for heartburn without fair warning. Factor in elements like ISIS/ISIL and their sympathizers who actively adapt consumer UAV's to deliver ED payloads, and getting a guest appearance from somebody's CT Unit comes as no surprise.

On the other hand, holding the filmmaker in custody for 14 hours (per the article) while someone in authority figured out how or whether to press charges (and for what) was just piss-poor contingency planning for the draft event. In the absence of permission, the filmmaker should have been released as soon as it was obvious that he posed no threat or told to fly elsewhere until after the event cleared.

We were cleared to fly and film but not before security and university management signed off, patrol and public relations were informed (all of which were professionally and expeditiously handled for us) and we could assure everyone that we were insured.

Moral of the story is football takes itself way too seriously.
 
Absolutely ridiculous.more like the keystone cops.that very first cop could have looked at that footage, Made a mature decision ( if thats possible) and let the man go home with his drone.
Idiocy and paranoia at its finest.
 
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To be honest we rarely deal with drone calls. If I did not fly I would not have known either. The FAA guidelines should be taught to law enforcement. It has also been brought up as well they are only guidelines. Unless someone is buzzing people which is reckless. This man was obviously not reckless and this was a shame.
 
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Absolutely ridiculous.more like the keystone cops.that very first cop could have looked at that footage, Made a mature decision ( if thats possible) and let the man go home with his drone.
Idiocy and paranoia at its finest.
Absolutely. It's one thing for an officer to do his job as professionally as is possible but, when you think you're on a reality show and need to make yourself look like your doing something way larger than it is, well, this is where attitudes come into play with the public.
 
For future reference can someone tell me how you would display your video in the field?

There are a number of ways.

(1) If you're using the DJI app on a smart device and your AC is powered up you can stream a playback from your AC to the device.

(2) You can also back out to the DJI app home screen, select Editor, and playback a low resolution version of your flight.

(3) You can also use the menu dropdown from the Home screen, select Flight Record, and retrace your actual flight path.

(4) If you have a laptop or smart device that accepts micro SD cards, you can playback on the device directly from your card.

Even third party apps, like Litchi, have a playback mode.
 
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To be honest we rarely deal with drone calls. If I did not fly I would not have known either. The FAA guidelines should be taught to law enforcement. It has also been brought up as well they are only guidelines. Unless someone is buzzing people which is reckless. This man was obviously not reckless and this was a shame.
The FAA put out an advisory to LE shortly after registration became mandatory. You can find it on-line. Not sure how Depts. are to be made aware or how/if it was 'pushed' to them.
 
Reckless endangerment - a catchall if ever I heard one. Why is it so important for those given the power to come up with this crap. How about "don't try and confuse me with the facts, my mind is made up".
 
I kinda think the drone operator ( a-hole) brought it upon himself because he flew his copter above the passing police boat and waved as they past him. To me thats like give the cop "the finger"
 
I am a cop and after reading this article this guy obviously should have never been arrested. This goes to show the lack of Law Enforcement knowing the rules of drones. I'm glad this case was dismissed.

http://deadspin.com/this-man-spent-all-day-in-lockup-for-flying-a-drone-too-1794886186
Wow! I heard someone was arrested at the NFL Draft for flying a drone. I don't know the Drone Operator personally but I have seen his work online. Even if he was outside the perimeter, that is awfully close and there were signs posted clearly stating No Drone Zone. The Skate park he was flying at is right across the street from the Art Museum where the Draft was going on. Like right across the street! So I can see why the Feds reacted the way they did but based on the article, he wasn't doing anything to interfere with the draft and I am glad he got off with no charges.
 
There is a 5 mile no fly TFR around the Toyota center, the Dynamos Stadium and Minute Maid Park in Houston when reversed there is a game. It starts before the scheduled time and lasts about two hours after the events.
 
I kinda think the drone operator ( a-hole) brought it upon himself because he flew his copter above the passing police boat and waved as they past him. To me thats like give the cop "the finger"
Agreed, he flew in a city full of people and according to the FAA... You can't fly over people and specially close to police vehicles. Apart from that, any big event is also considered a no flying zone. If the guy didn't know, he should have asked. I will do it if I know there is a big event in that area.
 
For future reference can someone tell me how you would display your video in the field?

Press the "replay" button in the bottom right corner of the DJI 4 App.
 

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