# Kentucky Man Shoots Drone, Gets Arrested **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 31, 2015, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634 "2015-07-31T06:38:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/41 "2015-07-31T18:58:28Z")
> [@Sinaptics](#): > > WTF is wrong with all you people completely okay with this guy destroying another person’s property? Just because he doesn’t like what he’s doing with it doesn’t mean that he gets to destroy it. If I were to drive my car onto his property, he doesn’t get to come out with a bat and start beating the shit out of the car. The correct response is to contact authorities and let them handle it, not to go Rambo. Many people simply do not like drones, let alone drones that hover over their children in their own backyard. If you drove your car onto someone’s property in order to take pictures of their children sunbathing, your car may get damaged, and I doubt a jury would show much sympathy. just sayin’ You may have noticed that the homeowner wasn’t charged with destroying the drone. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/42 "2015-07-31T19:03:01Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > “Stepping on the other side of the sidewalk” isn’t a life-threatening act of aggression. One has to be insane to think one’s life is in danger because someone else’s feet have moved beyond a sidewalk onto a lawn. Having four angry, verbally-aggressive men advancing on you could be considered a life-threatening act of aggression. Luckily, the four angry, verbally-aggressive men chose not to trespass. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/43 "2015-07-31T19:14:58Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > First you have to prove there is actually a problem with peeping tom drone fliers. I have a drone, it’s a valuable piece of professional equipment and I fly it to get beauty shots of overall areas. I have zero interest in any particular house, and when I over fly other people’s houses it’s for a general wide angle sweeping shot in which any one house is only in view for a short time. Sometimes we might hover the drone for a while, while setting waypaths on the GPS system but in that case its not recording. > > I suspect the number of drone fliers with perverted / peeping tom motives is very low, and if you think otherwise then let’s have some cites. If you think it’s “very low”, then you’re aware that it does happen. I only have to convince my elected representatives that drones are a menace to airplane and helicopter navigation, dangerous to the people beneath a falling drone’s flight path, and have been used to video children. The FAA already frowns on drone owner/pilots flying over residential areas. It shouldn’t take much persuading to convince local law-makers to ban all drone flights over homes and crowds. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/44 "2015-07-31T19:20:08Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Having four angry, verbally-aggressive men advancing on you could be considered a life-threatening act of aggression. Luckily, the four angry, verbally-aggressive men chose not to trespass. Sticks and stones… The standard for using deadly force is a _reasonable_ fear of death or serious bodily injury. It is not reasonable to use deadly force against someone just because they are pissed. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/45 "2015-07-31T19:23:15Z")
It’s amazing that the actual video, from the drone, mysteriously vanished. How does that memory card get removed? Who has it? Who would benefit from having the actual evidence vanish? It’s messed up. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/46 "2015-07-31T19:23:24Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > “Stepping on the other side of the sidewalk” isn’t a life-threatening act of aggression. One has to be insane to think one’s life is in danger because someone else’s feet have moved beyond a sidewalk onto a lawn. If it’s 4 angry dudes who’s $1800.00 drone just got shot down? :dubious: Granted, that’s just what this guy in the OPs article said, but I don’t think it’s that unreasonable to postulate that 4 angry guys who just lost a high dollar piece of equipment to gun fire MIGHT do more than put their feet on the offending shooters lawn. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/47 "2015-07-31T19:23:54Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Having four angry, verbally-aggressive men advancing on you could be considered a life-threatening act of aggression. Luckily, the four angry, verbally-aggressive men chose not to trespass. Have you ever had unhappy people approach you? Did they survive? In my case, yes, I have dealt with angry people. One time while I was driving in heavy city traffic, I changed lanes. While traffic was stopped, the guy who was then behind me got out of his car, walked up to me, and accused me of cutting him off. He also raised his voice and made frantic gesticulations. I was going to blow his head off, but I wasn’t armed. Amazing how we both lived to tell this tale. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/48 "2015-07-31T19:25:41Z")
> [@XT](#): > > If it’s 4 angry dudes who’s $1800.00 drone just got shot down? :dubious: Granted, that’s just what this guy in the OPs article said, but I don’t think it’s that unreasonable to postulate that 4 angry guys who just lost a high dollar piece of equipment to gun fire MIGHT do more than put their feet on the offending shooters lawn. Since Mr. Meredith initiated the violence, perhaps the drone operators should have “stood their ground” and shot him from long range, as opposed to trying to approach him. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/49 "2015-07-31T19:28:43Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Since Mr. Meredith initiated the violence, perhaps the drone operators should have “stood their ground” and shot him from long range, as opposed to trying to approach him. If they wanted to go to jail I guess that might be a good idea. I don’t believe that even in some fantasy strawman you could shoot some guy on his own property for destroying your drone, no matter how expensive it was. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/50 "2015-07-31T19:31:08Z")
> [@XT](#): > > If they wanted to go to jail I guess that might be a good idea. I don’t believe that even in some fantasy strawman you could shoot some guy on his own property for destroying your drone, no matter how expensive it was. But threatening to kill someone for stepping off of a sidewalk – no biggie, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/51 "2015-07-31T19:36:57Z")
> [@Sinaptics](#): > > If I were to drive my car onto his property, he doesn’t get to come out with a bat and start beating the shit out of the car If you drove it on purpose, you might get worse than a beating. A car is a deadly weapon you know. Hell, so is a drone if you think about it. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/52 "2015-07-31T19:41:23Z")
Am I the only one who thought back to when I was a kid, and there was the neighbor whose yard you never wanted the ball or frisbee to go into, because it was GONE! A la The Sandlot? 😛 Your KILLING me Smalls! 😉 No - I’ve got no sympathy for folk who want to buzz their drones - or remote control planes - over other peoples’ homes. But you don’t get to just shoot off your shotgun in the neighborhood either. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/53 "2015-07-31T19:44:50Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > But threatening to kill someone for stepping off of a sidewalk – no biggie, I guess. Well, threatening to kill someone and their buddies who are steeping off the sidewalk onto your property is not as big a deal as your strawman of shooting the guy from a distance and claiming it’s a stand your ground situation, no. I’m surprised you think they are equivalent, to be honest. And, of course, depending on if you believe this guys story, he WARNED them not to step onto his property and then, when they didn’t, he didn’t shoot them, so I’d go with ‘no biggie’ with some caveats and requests for more information. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/54 "2015-07-31T19:48:04Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Well, threatening to kill someone and their buddies who are steeping off the sidewalk onto your property is not as big a deal as your strawman of shooting the guy from a distance and claiming it’s a stand your ground situation, no. Strawman is a really odd synonym for comment made in jest. “I watched Hollywood Squares last night, but the arguments were awful. Everything Paul Lynde said was a strawman!” ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/55 "2015-07-31T19:53:31Z")
[QUOTE=Ravenman] Strawman is a really odd synonym for comment made in jest. “I watched Hollywood Squares last night, but the arguments were awful. Everything Paul Lynde said was a strawman!” Today 07:44 PM [/QUOTE] Maybe I’m misunderhearing what you meant by the below then. > [@Ravenman](#): > > Since Mr. Meredith initiated the violence, perhaps the drone operators should have “stood their ground” and shot him from long range, as opposed to trying to approach him. This was in response to me saying: [QUOTE=XT] If it’s 4 angry dudes who’s $1800.00 drone just got shot down? Granted, that’s just what this guy in the OPs article said, but I don’t think it’s that unreasonable to postulate that 4 angry guys who just lost a high dollar piece of equipment to gun fire MIGHT do more than put their feet on the offending shooters lawn. [/QUOTE] If you weren’t offering this as an equivalent course of action I’m seriously confused as to why you posted it or what you intended it to say. Well, and what your overall point is in this. You are obviously angry that this guy ‘threatened’ the drone owner and his buddies with violence if they set foot on his grounds, and you are less obviously saying something about stand your ground and shooting the offending shot gun wielding drone killer, but no idea where you are going or why you think what I wrote was a strawman of your position…whatever it is. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/56 "2015-07-31T20:03:49Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > But threatening to kill someone for stepping off of a sidewalk – no biggie, I guess. He made it clear that he would DEFEND himself if the four angry, verbally-aggressive men continued to advance and attack him. That warning seems to have stopped the four angry, verbally-aggressive men from advancing. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/57 "2015-07-31T20:07:37Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Have you ever had unhappy people approach you? > > Did they survive? > > In my case, yes, I have dealt with angry people. One time while I was driving in heavy city traffic, I changed lanes. While traffic was stopped, the guy who was then behind me got out of his car, walked up to me, and accused me of cutting him off. He also raised his voice and made frantic gesticulations. I was going to blow his head off, but I wasn’t armed. Amazing how we both lived to tell this tale. Wow. You drive like you post. I’m shocked. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/58 "2015-07-31T20:11:45Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Sticks and stones… > > The standard for using deadly force is a _reasonable_ fear of death or serious bodily injury. It is not reasonable to use deadly force against someone just because they are pissed. In the first place, he did not use deadly force. In the second place, he did not use deadly force. Are you aware that he did not use deadly force? ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/59 "2015-07-31T20:29:07Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > He made it clear that he would DEFEND himself if the four angry, verbally-aggressive men continued to advance and attack him. That warning seems to have stopped the four angry, verbally-aggressive men from advancing. To be quite honest about it, I don’t see anything here to disagree with. If I had just shot down a drone hovering above my property looking at my daughter, and four pissed off guys arrived asking if I was the son of a bitch that shot down their drone, I wouldn’t be horribly enthusiastic about letting them approach me either. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/60 "2015-07-31T20:30:20Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > In the first place, he did not use deadly force. In the second place, he did not use deadly force. Are you aware that he did not use deadly force? He threatened to use deadly force and all indications from him are that he would have used deadly force if they stepped off the sidewalk. Are you saying he would have been justified? Was his fear reasonable? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634.md?page=4)