# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/101 "2015-08-01T05:02:43Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > What do you mean “[when](http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/06/18/drone-armed-with-hand-gun_n_3458404.html)” ? When? Maybe post [#22](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18563766&postcount=22) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/102 "2015-08-01T05:04:22Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > No need for anything fancy. Just some long trailers of fishing line will work fine. if the entangle line is too light, there is a chance it will get caught in the rotors of the attacking drone. The line will have to have some weight to it, though not so much that it reduces the attacker’s mobility. Maybe fishing line with some lead sinkers on the end… ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/103 "2015-08-01T05:30:11Z")
The level of paranoia in this thread is ludicrous. Having an attack drone take out another drone would be criminal property damage and should be treated as such. No one cares about you or your teenage daughter. A search on torrent websites shows ZERO instances of creep shot drone videos uploaded. Drones that can get decent quality video are expensive, at least $1500 and they usually don’t have zoom lenses, so they’re taking wide angle shots. As such people that own decent quality drones are trying to make money out of them. If a drone is over your house, it’s probably aiming it’s camera at the house next door (with permission) to get a real estate shot, it needs to be further back over another house to get a good angle. I challenge anyone to find me one single example of a creep shot drone video on the internet. Even if you put a high powered zoom lens on a drone, unless it’s a massive $10,000 plus unit with active stabilisation the image will be too jerky to see anything interesting. Simply put, a high powered telescope in a high rise apartment is much more effective tool for peeping toms and I don’t see much paranoia about those. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/104 "2015-08-01T09:44:50Z")
> [@Bone](#): > > When? Maybe post [#22](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18563766&postcount=22) Oh, all right. How about one [with a stripped down AR-15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNPJMk2fgJU) then ? ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/105 "2015-08-01T09:52:38Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > I challenge anyone to find me one single example of a creep shot drone video on the internet. Even if you put a high powered zoom lens on a drone, unless it’s a massive $10,000 plus unit with active stabilisation the image will be too jerky to see anything interesting. Simply put, a high powered telescope in a high rise apartment is much more effective tool for peeping toms and I don’t see much paranoia about those. It’ll start with paparazzi then, I guess, the tech will get cheaper. We know how that story goes. ---
**Author:** ![Sinaptics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Sinaptics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinaptics)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/106 "2015-08-01T12:33:38Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > if the entangle line is too light, there is a chance it will get caught in the rotors of the attacking drone. The line will have to have some weight to it, though not so much that it reduces the attacker’s mobility. > > Maybe fishing line with some lead sinkers on the end… I’d just go with a short-range jammer than blocks all frequencies except the one you’re on. Or even better, find the frequency in use and just block that. ---
**Author:** ![Julius\_Henry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8797f3/32.png) [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/107 "2015-08-01T12:54:48Z")
Someone please educate me about shotguns. Mr. Boggs, the drone owner, shows that his drone was at 272 feet when it was shot down. A little googling shows me that the effective range of a shotgun is about 30-40 yards, or 120 feet, which isn’t even close. Is it likely that even an expert with a shotgun could hit a hovering drone at 272 feet? ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/108 "2015-08-01T13:55:21Z")
> [@Julius\_Henry](#): > > Someone please educate me about shotguns. Mr. Boggs, the drone owner, shows that his drone was at 272 feet when it was shot down. A little googling shows me that the effective range of a shotgun is about 30-40 yards, or 120 feet, which isn’t even close. Is it likely that even an expert with a shotgun could hit a hovering drone at 272 feet? 272 Feet? No expert here but I’ve shot plenty of skeet. Pretty unlikely. You wouldn’t need and expert, just luck. Perhaps a pellet or two might hit it. The pellets at 272 feet would be spread out into a very large pattern. Depends on the shotgun the shot and choke. 12 gage 3 inch magnum full choke is a lot different than a 20 gage with a moderate choke. A full choke will keep the pellets more tightly packed and is better for distance. Shot size (the pellets) very dramatically. From #12 at .05" diameter (1.3mm) to 000 at .36" (9.14mm). Of course, the bigger the shot size, the further reach, but many less pellets. A post mortem on the drone would tell a lot. Was it powdered, or did it lose a blade on one of the rotors? ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/109 "2015-08-01T14:01:55Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > I challenge anyone to find me one single example of a creep shot drone video on the internet. Even if you put a high powered zoom lens on a drone, unless it’s a massive $10,000 plus unit with active stabilisation the image will be too jerky to see anything interesting. Simply put, a high powered telescope in a high rise apartment is much more effective tool for peeping toms and I don’t see much paranoia about those. Yes, very much this. As ubiquitous as GoPros and other action cameras are, people still seem pretty ignorant about the effects of wide angle lenses. Put a GoPro on your mountain bike and ride at a normal pace through a forest and the fisheye effect makes it look like you’re going _super fast_. Mount a GoPro on a drone 80 feet in the air and everyone below will look like ants. This came up when that guy was filming generic beach shots and some woman accused him of being a creep and assaulted him. When you actually look at the video he took you can sorta make out that there are people on the beach, but you can’t tell who they are what they look like. As you say, if you really want wank material you need a zoom lens which would be too heavy for a drone and too hard to stabilize. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/110 "2015-08-01T14:14:35Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > Googling “Drone Porn” leads to a short film made with paid actors as a comment on the paranoia about surveillance. Clicked through several pages, no illicit “creep videos” come up at all. Whoo Hoo! Untapped market! \* Whaddaya think of “Videodrone” for a website name? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/111 "2015-08-01T15:47:22Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > I challenge anyone to find me one single example of a creep shot drone video on the internet. No link, but I saw a very mild one a little while back, posted as a .gif on another message board. It was a girl sunbathing topless on a rooftop. As soon as she becomes aware of the drone hovering over her, she jumps up and chases after it, trying to swat it with a broom. There’s no actual nudity–the girl is face down to begin with, and holds a towel in front of herself while running–so the resulting clip is more funny than prurient. And I can’t prove it wasn’t staged anyway. ---
**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:** [August 1, 2015, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/112 "2015-08-01T16:07:26Z")
> [@Julius\_Henry](#): > > Is it likely that even an expert with a shotgun could hit a hovering drone at 272 feet? It’s possible. But the drone owner claims it just flew over the home. A drone flying over at the height would be almost impossible to hit. And bird shot wouldn’t pack much punch by then. This brings up the issue of the time to go get the gun, aim, and shoot three times. If the drone simply passed over at that altitude, the shooter wouldn’t be able to get a gun, much less get three shots off. It’s a real shame the footage vanished. You would think the drone owner would want to show the footage, to prove how innocent he was, and how wrong it all is. ---
**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:** [August 1, 2015, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/113 "2015-08-01T16:09:29Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Was it powdered, or did it lose a blade on one of the rotors? The story I saw was one blade was damaged. ---
**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:** [August 1, 2015, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/114 "2015-08-01T18:00:36Z")
The drone owner has released that crappy video of him reviewing the telemetry on a. iPad. That shows that the drone flew for about 90 seconds before approaching the house, and about two minutes before hitting the ground. I wondered if that video only showed part of the story. Did the drone make previous low passes over the house before making that flight shown on the video? If so, I would have thought the drone shooter would have actually said that in the multiple interviews that have been posted. He never says anything like, that drone flew over my house twice before I got my gun and shot it. Instead, he talks about how it hovered long enough to get three shots off. Piecing this together, with ample room to be corrected, seems like the family heard or maybe saw the drone when it was maybe 150 yards away, at about 190 feet altitude, soon after it took off. The drone then proceeded closer to the guys house and hovered for about thirty seconds, and was shot down soon after that. Regardless of what’s on the camera, I’m not getting the picture that this drone had been harassing anyone for more than 90 seconds before being shot down, based on what’s out there at this moment. Shooting at a drone that had been in flight once for 90 seconds is really excessive to the situation. Maybe if this was his fifth or tenth flight over the house I could find that the drone owner was acting irresponsibly, but even the drone shooter doesn’t seem to allege that, as far as I have read. ---
**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:** [August 1, 2015, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/115 "2015-08-01T18:09:18Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > I wondered if that video only showed part of the story. > [@](#): > > Merideth said he was disappointed with the police response. > > “They didn’t confiscate the drone. They gave the drone back to the individuals,” he said. “They didn’t take the SIM card out of it…but we’ve got…five houses here that everyone saw it – they saw what happened, including the neighbors that were sitting in their patio when he flew down low enough to see under the patio.” > **[Hillview man arrested for shooting down drone; cites right to privacy](https://www.wdrb.com/news/crime-reports/hillview-man-arrested-for-shooting-down-drone-cites-right-to-privacy/article_f22f00b3-b3a1-5e1b-9829-8e7ea914628c.html)** > > "It was hovering over top of my property, and I shot it out of the sky," said 47-year-old William H. Merideth. If only the police could take statements from people who saw what happened. Then it wouldn’t be some great mystery what happened. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/116 "2015-08-01T18:11:27Z")
But at the same time you don’t know the background/history to the relationship between the neighbours. ---
**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:** [August 1, 2015, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/117 "2015-08-01T18:25:37Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > [Hillview man arrested for shooting down drone; cites right to privacy](http://www.wdrb.com/story/29650818/hillview-man-arrested-for-shooting-down-drone-cites-right-to-privacy) > > If only the police could take statements from people who saw what happened. Then it wouldn’t be some great mystery what happened. But nobody in that story says that the drone made multiple passes on their houses. If that had happened, one would think someone would mention it. Plus, the shooter says the drone was hovering at about 80 feet. (Not in that link but in other stories I’ve read.) Are we to believe that it took three shots for this man to hit a hovering drone at 25 yards? ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/118 "2015-08-01T23:32:12Z")
I fly radio-controlled electric airplanes. Is any radio-controlled flying device considered a drone? Am I thus flying drones? In the RC hobby I have never heard of them being referred to as drones. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/119 "2015-08-02T00:49:30Z")
> [@Sinaptics](#): > > The correct response is to contact authorities and let them handle it, not to go Rambo. Not Rambo. Elmer Fudd. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634/120 "2015-08-02T00:50:05Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > No link, but I saw a very mild one a little while back, posted as a .gif on another message board. It was a girl sunbathing topless on a rooftop. As soon as she becomes aware of the drone hovering over her, she jumps up and chases after it, trying to swat it with a broom. There’s no actual nudity–the girl is face down to begin with, and holds a towel in front of herself while running–so the resulting clip is more funny than prurient. And I can’t prove it wasn’t staged anyway. Ive seen that one and yes it was staged [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-man-shoots-drone-gets-arrested/726634.md?page=7)