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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A New York City teacher and photographer has been ordered to serve five days of community service after he crashed a drone into the stands at the US Open last month.
In a statement released Friday, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown described the defendant, Daniel Verley, as having "cooperated fully with the police."
Brown added that Verley, who has no prior criminal record, "never intended to allow his drone to fly into the stadium and that he, in fact, lost control of the drone. Fortunately, no one was injured as a result of this incident."
Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, where Arthur Ashe Stadium is located, is huge and once hosted the World's Fair. It also contains the New York Hall of Science where Maker Faire happens, the giant metal globe, and the UFO towers that many will recognize from Men in Black. It is a fitting place to fly a drone.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 04 2015, @09:49PM
Because, of course, everything, everywhere is a bomb and you must spend 100% of your time worrying about it because "you can't be too safe".
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 04 2015, @10:04PM
I was once at the dock (not in USA) walking by, when this seagul attacked me. Obviously i immediately thought it might be a bomb. But it wasn't. Must've been my lucky day, praise the jebus.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday September 04 2015, @10:05PM
Considering the story down the page, if you're going to attack anything with a puny quadcopter, you should ask the US military to send you deactivated anthrax instead.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday September 04 2015, @10:11PM
Nah, they'll send it to the wrong address.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday September 04 2015, @09:53PM
Fail to cross the right palms with silver and the floor-to-ceiling windows of your office tower's corner office are blasted all over South Manhattan.
NOW you know why I suffer such terrible insomnia.
Have A Nice Day.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by Rivenaleem on Monday September 07 2015, @01:29PM
Hahaha, silly little person. Fear of terrorists is to keep the average people in line. Have you ever heard of a CEO actually dying in a terrorist attack? No No, those at the top are perfectly safe.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 04 2015, @10:05PM
Will be fired. Will never work again. Ever.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 04 2015, @10:19PM
If he was that much of a dumbass, it is better for the teaching pool if he was removed. Seriously, you're going to buzz a Grand Slam tournament? You don't think anyone would notice?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 04 2015, @10:28PM
Freedom is for people who don't get caught. We have a place in society for dumbasses. It's called prison. You'll be going there yourself as soon as you do something dumb, dumbfuck.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Zz9zZ on Friday September 04 2015, @10:35PM
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~
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 04 2015, @10:37PM
mod up dis nigga bro
(Score: 2) by No Respect on Friday September 04 2015, @11:39PM
Good to know the propaganda is working. Carry on and if you see something for gods' sake say something! Oh my, the vapors!
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 05 2015, @02:31AM
Yeah, there's lots of propaganda going on in those Baghdad marketplaces and don't forget those 20 people killed by that propaganda in Bangkok. Don't forget those two propaganda spreaders in Ferguson. Another 20 were killed by propaganda in Yemen a couple days ago.
But, you are absolutely right. It is all lies and propaganda propagated by The Man to keep us down. There is absolutely no danger. In fact, at global events like Grand Slam tournaments in cities like New York, it is crazy to think that ANYONE would consider that a target. You'd want to put all your defenses at high-value targets like Sheboygan.
Fight the power, my man. Fight the power.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Saturday September 05 2015, @03:43AM
I glanced thru the articles. Any word on why he did it and why on earth he thought this would be a great idea (an event filled with security and cameras)? Was he to cheap to get seat? The event was at low capacity, I'm sure the remaining seats was quite cheap if he just wanted to see some tennis.
(Score: 2) by fliptop on Saturday September 05 2015, @12:23PM
The US Open is not cheap [gobankingrates.com].
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.