Interesting LAPD try to explain the law to drone pilot

Fyod said:
This behavior is not necessarily unlawful, but downright disrespectful and uncalled for.
Meet Tom Zebra.
Drones are irrelevant to his activity - his only goal is to provoke and irritate the police. The police knew who they were dealing with and they weren't taking the bait.

[Edit - removed my bait.]
 
Daniel Saulman, aka Tom Zebra. An annoying irritant making a name for himself on YouTube by annoying police across So California. He was doing this crap long before he added a Phantom to his arsenal. Suwaneeguy, you must be familiar with his agenda? You've posted more than one of his videos.

You can research him for yourselves- but one of his drone confrontations landed him in jail for several days and the court confiscated his Phantom. I'm assuming he eventually got it back, but I just don't care enough about his antics to find out.
He certainly isn't doing the community any favors. I see his stunts as pointless as recording myself pissing of school teachers, Shell Gas Station owners, Pizza delivery guys, or whatever segment of society I choose to obsess on. All he proves is how annoying he is.
 
I think the pilot is an *** and just trying to start crap. Don't piss off cops. They can make your day bad whether you broke any laws or not. They can hold you on suspicion. I'm surprised no one mentioned he could be cited for wrecklesss behavior flying over people and property. If someone took a rc airplane and started flying off the sidewalk, I'm sure they can't do that legally. What will he do next? Put powdered sugar in little bags and sell it in front of the station or act like he is. The guy is a jerk. I guess he wants to be a youtube sensation to make up for his limited abilities to get his point across in a manner that one could respect. I wish his quad would have landed in the police lot and been run over.
 
Speaking of bait - I sure wish the fear-mongers on this forum would stop imagining and spreading irrational fears when someone does something with a drone that they don't like. Where's the mayhem? Show me the blood. Despite thousands of cumulative hours of flight, there has not been a verifiable report of a serious injury to someone not involved in the flight due to a drone crash. Not one.

I didn't see the dangers of drones mentioned in this thread? Invasion of privacy - maybe...but "mayhem" and "blood" weren't mentioned here. Except by you. Are you chumming?
 
StangLuvr said:
People like this give quadcopter pilots a bad name. People that walk around with assault rifles and hope the cops confront them piss me off too.
I agree. We have an idiot around here that has stirred up so much crap in central Texas. When the cops confront him now, they just arrest him for something else.
 
99.9% of US citizens would agree this guy is a complete a-hole. If you are in the 0.1% that agree with his agenda and actions then guess what 99.9% of US citizens think you are an a-hole too. If that is how you want to live your life, then by all means that is your right. But believe me, you catch way more flies with sugar than with vinegar.
 
Looks like he's got at least three supporters. ;)
 
StangLuvr said:
People like this give quadcopter pilots a bad name. People that walk around with assault rifles and hope the cops confront them piss me off too.

You must never goto Arizona or Texas then lol
 
Meta4 said:
This is Tom Zebra. He doesn't do anything"just for fun".
He makes a career out of annoying cops.

His whole intent is to make his presence felt which he does and the cops get very irritated with him, if he were a darker skin color he would have stopped that long ago or they would have done it for him.

The funny thing is cops always try and make up the laws assuming everyone is stupid while its clear hes talking out of his arse and making it up as he goes lol
 
ianwood said:
Hughie said:
Without a commercial licence, this would not have even been a debate in the UK . You can't fly within 50m of a building or structure or vehicle even without a camera. End of.

The guy who flew over the LAPD is known to instigate problems and would have done so regardless. Fortunately, we don't need a commercial license to fly in an urban environment.

I will say that in the numerous flights I have done in and around LA, I have never had an issue with LAPD. Not once. On a couple of flights, I've had LAPD ask questions but they've always done so in a non-disruptive manner and with professionalism.

Seems they did the same even when confronted by a bunch tin foil hat wearing kids flying over the precinct.

Thats so funny and my experiences are the same. It baffles me why so many here are affraid and then belittle others for safe flying but its not the flying they can do. I fly around LA all the time as well and have been doing so for 3 years and not 1 time have i ever been confronted by a cop other than to ask and huddle like everyone else does.

I even let a cop fly for a few seconds once i got it in the air. I just think living in LA no one is really phased by me flying my drone with a camera on it.

I have a list of 20 people or so who ask me to send them footage of thier dogs or that i may have captured of them. But every now and then i still get called an idiot by some here for obeying my local laws! lol

Early on when i first started i will be the first to admit i had not heard of any laws! But 3 years later now in 2015 i am well aware of them and i wont break them but im sure one of you will still call me an idiot hahaha.
 
Tom Zebra is not someone I want representing the drone hobby or my civil rights.

I like the video where he's above an active Navy warship in LA harbor and the Navy asks the police to ask him to stop flying. He asks the policeman to name the citation that prohibits him from flying over LA harbor and the policeman cites it immediately.

Mr. Zebra then continues to argue about his Constitutional rights, insults the police, and a little bit later, the policeman's supervisor is confiscating his Phantom.

At that point, I was cheering for the cops.
 
Tom Zebra is a very sick individual with extremely serious authority issues. He has over 100 videos on YouTube where his main agenda is to provoke the police by being obnoxious, harassing, and trying in every conceivable way to confront them hoping to capture them on video and trapping them into doing or saying things that exceed their authority.

If you start watching any of his videos, you can not watch more than a few to realize how miserably he fails at his agenda. Many of his videos are a hatchet job of various clips using association in trying to prove some point that isn't there, with him adding pictures of pigs and bacon as an obvious insult to police. In most every one of his videos, he is obnoxious, confrontational, harassing and insulting. I can not help but be impressed at how professionally the police handle this creep and control themselves, despite his overbearing harassment.

This guy really needs to be in therapy. The few people here that try and find some value in the video posted, really need to go to YouTube, view a few more of his videos, to get a better picture of what is wrong with this guy, and how demented his motivation is, in posting these.

His use of a drone is a new tool in his arsenal to promote his agenda, and I think he is really doing major damage in portraying a very negative image around UAV use.
 
There is a need for what hes doing and you likely could seriously disagree if you happen to not belong to a minority group or live in an urban city with crime spikes.

I dont agree with all of his tactics but im happy someone is out there attempting to keep those paid to protect us from harming us and i understand if you disagree it simply tells me you must happen to have been born on the other side of the racial divide!

And Tom Zebra does not represent me as a pilot or hobbyist, i represent myself and you should too and stop worrying about what everyone else is doing especially when you have not one ounce of control to stop him or silence him. Let him keep it up and he will right his own jail sentence sooner or later.
 
Clipper, not exactly correct about the navy ship scene.
It was parked in a city park. Active? I don't think so.
The cops were port authority and they were stationed between the parking lot and the ship.
They had watched the launch and landing within the park grounds.
The city law he referred to is correct. You can not launch or land within the city park.
Had he done the same thing from across the street, the cops could do nothing.
Oh and the cop had the city code written on his hand so that means he probably did not know the actual code and asked someone what it was.
The bird was confiscated for evidence.
 
BTW Clipper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGtqVLMGV74

That's the video you refer to.
IMO, he should have just walked away without spending the time with the cops.
But he's wanting the confrontation. Because he feels he's always right or what ever.
Legally speaking, the port authority has no jurisdiction over airspace.
It's just the fact he did the act within the park property.
Look up the law and read it. I did.
 
If I ever see this guy in LA, I will separate him from his Phantom and give it to the first kid that comes along. I will then teach said kid to fly it safely and not be a total jackass.
 
Khudson7 said:
His use of a drone is a new tool in his arsenal to promote his agenda, and I think he is really doing major damage in portraying a very negative image around UAV use.
How? You are blaming the hammer, not the carpenter. He is just a fool who uses cameras and recording devices in his attempt to provoke the police. Does his lunacy somehow damage the portrayal of cameras?
 
ianwood said:
If I ever see this guy in LA, I will separate him from his Phantom and give it to the first kid that comes along. I will then teach said kid to fly it safely and not be a total jackass.

+4!
 
SteveMann said:
Khudson7 said:
His use of a drone is a new tool in his arsenal to promote his agenda, and I think he is really doing major damage in portraying a very negative image around UAV use.
How? You are blaming the hammer, not the carpenter. He is just a fool who uses cameras and recording devices in his attempt to provoke the police. Does his lunacy somehow damage the portrayal of cameras?

So you're saying that each time legislators, or Joe Public, or LEO, or representatives from the FAA or NTSB see a video of a fool and his flying camera, it has no affect on their feelings toward drones and current laws?
 

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