Teenager attacked by a woman for flying a "drone" over a beach; called a "pervert"

[generals3]

Well imho, if you use a drone at a public beach, you deserve to have the drone fed to you. Seriously, just because you can do something, it doesn't mean you should. There is something called "other people" and "respect", something many people need to learn. I know, I know, you bought that shiny flying gadget and now you want to try it out, and i know there are people everywhere, so what are you gonna do? But, no. Seriously, you cannot film people on the beach without their consent. What are you going to do with that footage? Put it on youtube? Because.. you know, everyone does. And the gadget is really shiny.. and it was pretty expensive?

Here's the thing.. People film other people with their phones and put them on youtube without their consent, i know. But that does NOT make it right! And you should know better. And another thing, If you film them with your phone or camera or just stare at them, they can see you. With a drone, you have the opportunity to be totally anonymous, seeing how those drones have quite some range and you can control it with your phone. And you can keep the drone at an altitude so they can't reach it. Fot these reasons alone, drones need to be regulated, and you will probably think so too, when one of them hangs around outside your bedroom window and you have no idea who the hell controls it.

But since the gadget is really shiny, keep going and just disrespect everyone around you. And have it fly around a daycare center or a playground and you just might have a federal problem on your hands.

But he wasn't filming the people, at least it was not his purpose and from what i've seen you can't get a clear sight of the actual people.
I could understand if the drone was at low altitude but in this case...

And than still comes the issue of the response, is an assault an appropriate response for what could be construed as mildly disrespectful behavior? I mean its not like he had his drone hover next to a window of someones bathroom.

 

[DementedSheep]

Can you imagine if the genders were reversed in this situation.

Geez. Very different reaction.

What? people would be supporting a guy attacking a girl filming? cause most are in support of the kid in this case.

 

[chozo_hybrid]

She could have asked calmly to see the footage, people were barely specs on the lens, it was clearly him doing landscape shots. If she saw that, she might not have had an issue with it, alas she was unreasonable and that's got her in trouble.

Also, what happened to innocent until proven guilty, the cops were just going to believe he assaulted her despite his clothes being ripped etc? That sucks, lucky he had the footage on his phone of the incident. Kind of ironic really, she thought the "drone" was the issue, yet a phone is what got her on camera.

 

[Kricketz]

Not sure if anybody saw the actual drone footage but here it is.

Spoiler

You know, I'd understand her being upset if the drone was actually CLOSE ENOUGH to the ground to clearly make out features of the people. She clearly blew the entire situation wayyyyyy out of proportion. You don't assault someone, especially the way she did. If it bothered her that much, she should have either a) left it up to the authorities or b) left the area.

Also, the drone was only over the actual beach for a total of what...45 seconds to a minute. Seriously? It never stopped and hovered in place, it wasn't flying low enough to get in anybody's way, and I doubt the buzz was even loud enough to really bother anybody. I highly doubt most people even noticed it.

Ha, I wouldn't even be surprised if she wasn't even on the beach. She was probably walking by, saw him bring him land his drone, and got pissed.

 

[vallorn]

You have to love how the cops will instantly believe this woman's word over his with no evidence either way till he provided some. Talk about guilty till proven innocent... Glad the kid had this recorded but the fact that he had to is just really sorta sad.

Glad that everyone can avoid that girl now, maybe we can also avoid the girl who got off an attempted murder charge of after sneaking up on a cop and nearly slashing his jugular open with a 2 inch blade she had concealed... http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=9ba_1402464813 (The whole incident is on film too).

 

[chozo_hybrid]

You have to love how the cops will instantly believe this woman's word over his with no evidence either way till he provided some. Talk about guilty till proven innocent... Glad the kid had this recorded but the fact that he had to is just really sorta sad.

Glad that everyone can avoid that girl now, maybe we can also avoid the girl who got off an attempted murder charge of after sneaking up on a cop and nearly slashing his jugular open with a 2 inch blade she had concealed... http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=9ba_1402464813 (The whole incident is on film too).

Seriously!? Even if the "She was only trying to scare the police officer" part was true, who tries to scare police officers and expects that to end well!? It was caught on camera and in less than a day, the jury found her not guilty. That's insane!

 

[EternallyBored]

You have to love how the cops will instantly believe this woman's word over his with no evidence either way till he provided some. Talk about guilty till proven innocent... Glad the kid had this recorded but the fact that he had to is just really sorta sad.

Glad that everyone can avoid that girl now, maybe we can also avoid the girl who got off an attempted murder charge of after sneaking up on a cop and nearly slashing his jugular open with a 2 inch blade she had concealed... http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=9ba_1402464813 (The whole incident is on film too).

The reaction to calls like this is entirely up to the discretion of the individual police officer/s who respond, I've spent years working with local and state police and I've seen scenarios like this go both ways dozens of times. Even individual police officers will swing differently depending on each situation as it crops up, in the heat of the moment I've seen them come down heavy on men for defending themselves from getting hit by a frying pan or even almost getting stabbed, conversely, I've seen the cops leave women alone in clearly abusive situations where the man just passes it off as "she's just being hysterical", one such situation resulted in the woman's death a week later after her husband stabbed her to death.

Sadly, patrol police officers are not really trained therapists, negotiators, or investigators, so you've got someone who might have a high school diploma at best making snap decisions with basically the complete power over the situation, which can sometimes lead to bad calls. To be fair, I've also seen plenty of officers make great calls at getting women out of abusive situations, or giving the benefit of the doubt to the male party when they obviously are not the ones at fault. It's pretty much one of those cases where the outcome is going to depend entirely on what the officer that shows up to the scene is like.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

I find very much in my old age, that I believe in Pacifism. I look down on people that result in real world violence as anything other than a last resort.

That said, you have no expectation of privacy on a public beach. Hell, in this day and age? You shouldn't expect privacy at all. Not even in your own homes. (FYI, I cover up all cameras with tape.)

And I am extremely wary of the government using drones, but a private dude? Whats the difference between that and a RC helicopter with a camera right?

Well I am glad that kid was smart and recorded the whole thing. She apparently even tried to convince the police that he attacked her. I hope this woman gets what she deserves and would gladly throw some money towards his crowdfunder to bring charges against this woman.

UPDATE: Evidently he has decided to not go through with suing her, and is refunding donations

https://www.facebook.com/groups/284203045091864/

Ya know what? good for him. So many people are looking for a payday in the name of "punishment", I'm glad to see he took the highroad.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

You have to love how the cops will instantly believe this woman's word over his with no evidence either way till he provided some. Talk about guilty till proven innocent... Glad the kid had this recorded but the fact that he had to is just really sorta sad.

My understanding of law (according to NY state)

if I bumped into you on the street, and I called the cops on you. The cop would arrest you based on my testimony that you assaulted me (even if you didn't.), I'm the civilian pressing charges not the cop in this instance.

In this instance, I'm making a civilian arrest. I'm liable for false arrest charges, not the cop.

I really rather wish this country forced everyone every year to take an 8 hour refresher course on the Law. I have to, to keep my NYS Security License. I've never worked Security but the knowledge I've acquired I've found useful more than once in everyday life.

 

[chadachada123]

You have the right to refuse being pictured or filmed. Especially if the footage is released on the internet afterward, you can not normally do that without asking for permission from the filmed people (that rarely happens of course).

Sure, you have the right to refuse to be filmed. That doesn't mean you have the right to not be filmed.

At least, in the United States. Not sure what country you're from, but in the US, public means just that: PUBLIC. No expectation of privacy, and Joe Shmoe can film you all he wants so long as you're in public. Edit: This is barring harassment, which requires multiple offences, generally for the purpose of distressing someone.

This is absolutely essential in, for example, *this very case*, filming aggressors during the commission of a crime.

 

[Uhura]

Damn, I feel bad for the kid. The situation must have been really distressing plus I bet the guy was feeling anxious about the copter too. The copter he was flying (3DR Iris) apparently costs roughly $730 and I'm guessing that's why he didn't just abandon his gear and leave the scene immediately when the woman started acting weird/threatening.

Good thing he got the assault on tape.

 

[Something Amyss]

There's a difference between filming in public and filming someone specific. The later can border on harassment, but this was the former.

I don't understand how someone using a drone makes them a "pervert". I mean, if you looking for voyeuristic kicks, 50 feet in the open air seems like the worst way to go about it.

Maybe he gets off on people who look like they're ant-sized.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

I think people should be courteous just as a general rule, but when you push it as far as legality then they should be able to record anything taking place in public so far as it's not clearly targeting someone. And as for fake assault charges, that's atrocious and something needs to happen about that. Far worse than a bit of filming, especially of the landscape.

 

[Colour Scientist]

Can you imagine if the genders were reversed in this situation.

Geez. Very different reaction.

How would the reaction be different?
Almost everyone seems want the woman to be done for assault and false accusations and are supporting the kid suing the pants off her.

 

[The Lunatic]

How would the reaction be different?
Almost everyone seems want the woman to be done for assault and false accusations and are supporting the kid suing the pants off her.

23 Year Old Man Attacks 17 Year Old Girl, rips her shirt off, holds her down. Tells Police she started it and has attacked him, and they believe him until evidence is shown.


I think people would react to that a hell of a lot more severely than to this.

 

[McMullen]

Edit: I regret ever making a post in this thread. People obviously can't see nuances and I don't wish to take part.

Given what was quoted, everyone's replies seemed reasonable. Your comment about not seeing nuances is rather... strange, since most of the replies were showing how what you said was not actually true. That's not missing nuance, that's pointing out to you that you missed key aspects of the story. If you're trying to save face by putting your own mistakes on everyone else, doing it in such a transparent way will not help the image you're trying to save. It's far better to just leave it.

OT: The lack of evidence for someone's false claim is no protection for the falsely accused. This is in spite of the claim that we are innocent until proven guilty. Our justice system is based on rhetoric and emotional appeals, not what we actually know happened. There are millions of crazies out there who know this and will use the courts as a weapon to assault you.

May Andrea Mears, and all people like her, someday have any charge or accusation they ever make again disregarded, even if the evidence is compelling. People like that shouldn't enjoy any of the protection that the law can provide.

 

[Yopaz]

Edit: I regret ever making a post in this thread. People obviously can't see nuances and I don't wish to take part.

Given what was quoted, everyone's replies seemed reasonable. Your comment about not seeing nuances is rather... strange, since most of the replies were showing how what you said was not actually true. That's not missing nuance, that's pointing out to you that you missed key aspects of the story. If you're trying to save face by putting your own mistakes on everyone else, doing it in such a transparent way will not help the image you're trying to save. It's far better to just leave it.

OT: The lack of evidence for someone's false claim is no protection for the falsely accused. This is in spite of the claim that we are innocent until proven guilty. Our justice system is based on rhetoric and emotional appeals, not what we actually know happened. There are millions of crazies out there who know this and will use the courts as a weapon to assault you.

May Andrea Mears, and all people like her, someday have any charge or accusation they ever make again disregarded, even if the evidence is compelling. People like that shouldn't enjoy any of the protection that the law can provide.

Want to prove me wrong? Well you failed. You quoted me after I tried to make it clear that I no longer want to take part in this. You proved me right, even when I have backed out you try to rope me in. What is your problem? Seriously, I am not asking this as a rhetoric question. I am genuinely curious to know why you want to discuss something with someone who is obviously not interested in doing so.

 

[Goldhawk777]

It's reasonable to ask not to be filmed. Does it happen without your permission? Yes! Does everyone go into convenience stores and inform the cashier that "I'm sorry, I don't want to be filmed?" Even with some Youtube videos you have people's faces blurred or left intentionally fuzzy.



Kid did great.

Woman, as nutty as a jar of Jif. Cause clearly with a loud BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ sound coming from above, you can be subtle and spy on women.

 

[Jamieson 90]

This women is crazy.

1. Repeatedly calls the police (wasting their time), for something that isn't even an offence.

2. Manhandles someone else's property, expensive property at that.

3. Assaults a MINOR.

4. Then lies to the police.

How is this women not in jail already?

 

[CriminalScum]

This guy gets my respect. I don't think he could have possibly handled this situation any better. I'm really glad that, at least this time, justice prevailed.