New Jersey Man Accused Of Shooting Down Neighbors Drone

[Redwood]

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2014/0 ... rol-drone/

LOWER TOWNSHIP, N.J. (CBS) — A New Jersey man was arrested after police say he shot down a neighbor’s remote control drone.
According to investigators, officers with the Lower Township Police Department were called to a home in the 1000 block of Seashore Road on September 26th to investigate the report by a resident that his remote control helicopter (drone) was shot down.

Investigators say the resident was taking aerial photographs of his friend’s home, which is under construction.
While doing so, the resident told police he heard several gunshots as he simultaneously lost control of the drone.
After retrieving the drone, the resident observed multiple holes in it that were consistent with a shotgun blast.

The resident called the Lower Township Police Department and when officers arrived, he directed them to the area where he heard the shots coming from.
After an investigation, police say they determined 32-year-old Russell J. Percenti allegedly fired the shots that brought down the drone.

Percenti was arrested and charged with Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose and Criminal Mischief.
The shotgun used to shoot down the drone was seized by police.
Percenti was released after posting bail.

 

[darwin-t]

Boy, the comments there sure are depressing......

 

[thongbong]

The same people who complain about drones are probably the ones who give all their private info to media companies like Facebook and Apple... ha how ironic. Would be funny if Apple got hacked and all celebrity nude photos were posted online... wait... already happened.

 

[rjstone]

I have to admit I'm a little worried about this happening to me (or my drone, rather) at some point, though where I live I'm thinking that perhaps towing a confederate flag on a line behind a drone that has been reprogrammed to play Dixie on its internal buzzer might help reduce the chances of this since most of the people prone to such shotgun misuse probably wouldn't dare commit the sacrilege of shooting down anything towing a confederate flag that also plays Dixie.

 

[thongbong]

I have to admit I'm a little worried about this happening to me (or my drone, rather) at some point, though where I live I'm thinking that perhaps towing a confederate flag on a line behind a drone that has been reprogrammed to play Dixie on its internal buzzer might help reduce the chances of this since most of the people prone to such shotgun misuse probably wouldn't dare commit the sacrilege of shooting down anything towing a confederate flag that also plays Dixie.

It is disheartening isn't it? I posted quite a bit for a while until I realized most of those people there are very backwards in their thinking. I believe I was able to change one mind. Its funny how they think it's OK for everyone to carry shotguns but not OK for anyone to have a drone. I'd rather have a crazy person shoot me with a camera then a crazy person shoot me with a shotgun. Our real fight is with the FAA. Drones are legal and will be regulated.

 

[sbarton]

Here is a follow up interview with the drone pilot. Turns out he was not over the shooters house but filming a friends house under construction.
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/my-nei ... -a-shotgun

 

[DaveTown]

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2014/09/30/new-jersey-man-accused-of-shooting-down-neighbors-remote-control-drone/

LOWER TOWNSHIP, N.J. (CBS) — A New Jersey man was arrested after police say he shot down a neighbor’s remote control drone.
According to investigators, officers with the Lower Township Police Department were called to a home in the 1000 block of Seashore Road on September 26th to investigate the report by a resident that his remote control helicopter (drone) was shot down.

Investigators say the resident was taking aerial photographs of his friend’s home, which is under construction.
While doing so, the resident told police he heard several gunshots as he simultaneously lost control of the drone.
After retrieving the drone, the resident observed multiple holes in it that were consistent with a shotgun blast.

The resident called the Lower Township Police Department and when officers arrived, he directed them to the area where he heard the shots coming from.
After an investigation, police say they determined 32-year-old Russell J. Percenti allegedly fired the shots that brought down the drone.

Percenti was arrested and charged with Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose and Criminal Mischief.
The shotgun used to shoot down the drone was seized by police.
Percenti was released after posting bail.

Anyone know a way to get through the comments on the above article more efficiently than one page at a time? I have had to page through them 4 times, probably 20 or more pages each time because the page reloads each time I put the ipad down for a few minutes... Grrrr

 

[Morgon]

Anyone know a way to get through the comments on the above article more efficiently than one page at a time? I have had to page through them 4 times, probably 20 or more pages each time because the page reloads each time I put the ipad down for a few minutes... Grrrr

Disqus (the commenting platform) is notoriously terrible on mobile. You're better off using a laptop or other computer.

 

[rjstone]

It is disheartening isn't it? I posted quite a bit for a while until I realized most of those people there are very backwards in their thinking. I believe I was able to change one mind. Its funny how they think it's OK for everyone to carry shotguns but not OK for anyone to have a drone. I'd rather have a crazy person shoot me with a camera then a crazy person shoot me with a shotgun. Our real fight is with the FAA. Drones are legal and will be regulated.

Well, I own guns but I'm not the sort to just shoot at anything just because I don't like it, especially when it isn't mine. The vast majority of gun owners, even in areas that many people think of as backward, aren't going to shoot at a drone, but it only requires 0.00001% of the population to be idiots for this kind of thing to happen a few times. Anyone who isn't an idiot would have been reading their NRA newsletters and would know that due to NRA-supported Project Exile, anyone in possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime will get automatically prosecuted at the federal level. (Unfortunately some areas are notoriously tolerant of crime and they haven't implemented this policy even though it's supported by both the NRA and anti-gun organizations.)

I think the best thing to point out to people is that the situation with drones now is pretty much the same as the situation with cars when they first started being mass produced. I'm quite sure you can find plenty of historical info about people complaining about cars, shooting cars, being frightened that cars would run into people/property all the time, complaining about the noise from cars, the smell of cars (while ignoring the pollution and smell from horses crapping everywhere, which used to be a huge sanitary problem in large cities. Ever wondered why townhouses have the first floor elevated a few feet above the street? It's because horse manure would pile up to that level on the street so you either had to have an elevated house or you'd have manure piling against your windows.)

People of course did have legitimate concerns about cars, airplanes, etc, but those got addressed by people working on it, not by people shooting them or trying to ban them completely.

This is what bugs me: When something new comes along, it's not just something totally new and different. Usually it's the same situation as when cars, airplanes, computers, the Internet etc first became available. People have figured these things out in the past so just figure out what needs to be done based on what was done in similar situations in the past rather than act like its some 100% novel situation that nobody has ever addressed before.

 

[elaijah]

Just the my favorite comment on the article. ---wired(dot)com/2014/10/cody-wilson-ghost-gunner/ I have nothing against guns, but I fly my quad whenever I hear my crazy neighbor shooting his rifles, just to make sure he's not invading my airspace with his bullets.

 

[samd012]

The vast majority of gun owners, even in areas that many people think of as backward, aren't going to shoot at a drone, but it only requires 0.00001% of the population to be idiots for this kind of thing to happen a few times.

Apply that to people who are flying their quads, same concept!

 

[greenie65]

A vast majority of the problem (IMHO) has two parts: 1. A lack of firm knowledge of the general populace. 2. Media hype that usually had a negative slant towards the hobby.

 

[johnp44]

.

Now thats funny! Sad in a way but true.