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posted by takyon on Friday September 04 2015, @09:30PM   Printer-friendly
from the open-season dept.
Daniel Verley, a 26-year-old teacher, was arrested early Friday for allegedly crashing a drone into a section of open seats at the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York City on Thursday:

Daniel Verley, 26, faces charges of reckless endangerment and operating a drone in a New York City public park outside of prescribed area. A police department spokesman said Verley was a teacher at the Academy of Innovative Technology in Brooklyn. Calls for comment to the school and the Department of Education were not immediately returned Friday. It wasn't immediately clear if Verley had an attorney who could comment on the charges on his behalf.

The drone buzzed over the court in Louis Armstrong Stadium on Thursday night before crashing into the seats. U.S. Tennis Association spokesman Chris Widmaier said no one was injured. The black device flew diagonally through the arena during the next-to-last game of a second-round match that 26th-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy won 6-1, 6-4 over Monica Niculescu of Romania.

Pennetta said she heard the drone fly by and was not sure what it was. Her initial reaction, she said afterward, was that it might have been a bomb. "A little bit scary, I have to say," Pennetta said. "With everything going on in the world ... I thought, `OK, it's over.' That's how things happen," she said. She said neither the chair umpire nor tournament officials told her that it was, indeed, a drone.

It broke into pieces upon landing, and the match was only briefly interrupted between points while police and fire department personnel went to look at it. "The chair umpire just wanted to wait for an OK from the police to be able to continue," Pennetta said, "even if, truthfully, I don't think even they knew what it was."

She said her coach and physical therapist were sitting in the opposite end of the stadium from where the drone crashed and they told her later they were afraid, too. "All of these (security measures), and then it comes in from above," Pennetta said.

Also at BBC, NPR, and Ars. According to the FAA, drone use is forbidden within 5 miles of an airport, and Louis Armstrong Stadium is 4.2 miles from LaGuardia Airport.

 
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  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Zz9zZ on Friday September 04 2015, @10:35PM

    by Zz9zZ (1348) on Friday September 04 2015, @10:35PM (#232452)

    RC vehicles can be quite dangerous! I had never really considered the danger when I saw drones operated around people, but one day a photographer comes into the office with his cool quad and flew it over our heads. Paper flew everywhere, and it got close enough to get me ducking. A few months later the same guy comes in with a bandage on this hand, apparently a motor jammed and kicked on when he touched it giving him a big gash. That's when I realized how irresponsible he was before, it could have resulted in a serious head wound for a number of people.

    Regarding these ridiculously frightened people, this goes to show how useful our security theater is: "All of these (security measures), and then it comes in from above."

    Yup, if someone wants to do something bad they will be able to do it. Security Theater, eroding our rights and making this world a suckier place to exist in. I for one don't like being treated like a criminal for a 2 hour flight, or living in a world where people are afraid of being put on a list because of a social media post, wrong word into a cellphone, or badly timed joke on an airplane.

    --
    ~Tilting at windmills~
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +3  
       Interesting=2, Informative=1, Total=3
    Extra 'Interesting' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   5  
  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 04 2015, @10:37PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 04 2015, @10:37PM (#232453)

    mod up dis nigga bro