Hillview man arrested for shooting down drone; cites right to privacy
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — A Hillview man has been arrested after he shot down a drone flying over his property — but he’s not making any apologies for it.
It happened Sunday night at a home on Earlywood Way, just south of the intersection between Smith Lane and Mud Lane in Bullitt County, according to an arrest report.
Hillview Police say they were called to the home of 47-year-old William H. Merideth after someone complained about a firearm.
When they arrived, police say Merideth told them he had shot down a drone that was flying over his house. The drone was hit in mid-air and crashed in a field near Merideth’s home.
Police say the owner of the drone claimed he was flying it to get pictures of a friend’s house — and that the cost of the drone was over $1,800.
Merideth was arrested and charged with first degree criminal mischief and first degree wanton endangerment. He was booked into the Bullitt County Detention Center, and released on Monday.
WDRB News spoke with Merideth Tuesday afternoon, and he gave his side of the story.
“Sunday afternoon, the kids – my girls – were out on the back deck, and the neighbors were out in their yard,” Merideth said. “And they come in and said, ‘Dad, there’s a drone out here, flying over everybody’s yard.'”
Merideth’s neighbors saw it too.
“It was just hovering above our house and it stayed for a few moments and then she finally waved and it took off,” said neighbor Kim VanMeter.
VanMeter has a 16-year-old daughter who lays out at their pool. She says a drone hovering with a camera is creepy and weird.
“I just think you should have privacy in your own backyard,” she said.
Merideth agrees and said he had to go see for himself.
“Well, I came out and it was down by the neighbor’s house, about 10 feet off the ground, looking under their canopy that they’ve got under their back yard,” Merideth said. “I went and got my shotgun and I said, ‘I’m not going to do anything unless it’s directly over my property.’”
That moment soon arrived, he said.
“Within a minute or so, here it came,” he said. “It was hovering over top of my property, and I shot it out of the sky.”
“I didn’t shoot across the road, I didn’t shoot across my neighbor’s fences, I shot directly into the air,” he added.
It wasn’t long before the drone’s owners appeared.
“Four guys came over to confront me about it, and I happened to be armed, so that changed their minds,” Merideth said.
“They asked me, ‘Are you the S-O-B that shot my drone?’ and I said, ‘Yes I am,'” he said. “I had my 40 mm Glock on me and they started toward me and I told them, ‘If you cross my sidewalk, there’s gonna be another shooting.'”
A short time later, Merideth said the police arrived.
“There were some words exchanged there about my weapon, and I was open carry – it was completely legal,” he said. “Long story short, after that, they took me to jail for wanton endangerment first degree and criminal mischief…because I fired the shotgun into the air.”
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 Police detective Charles McWhirter says you can’t fire your gun in the city.
“Well, we do have a city ordinance against discharging firearms in the city, but the officer made an arrest for a Kentucky Revised Statute violation,” he said.
According to the Academy of Model Aeronautics safety code, unmanned aircraft like drones may not be flown in a careless or reckless manner and has to be launched at least 100 feet downwind of spectators.
The FAA says drones cannot fly over buildings — and that shooting them poses a significant safety hazard.
“An unmanned aircraft hit by gunfire could crash, causing damage to persons or property on the ground, or it could collide with other objects in the air,” said FAA spokesman Les Dorr.
Merideth said he’s offering no apologies for what he did.
“He didn’t just fly over,” he said. “If he had been moving and just kept moving, that would have been one thing — but when he come directly over our heads, and just hovered there, I felt like I had the right.”
“You know, when you’re in your own property, within a six-foot privacy fence, you have the expectation of privacy,” he said. “We don’t know if he was looking at the girls. We don’t know if he was looking for something to steal. To me, it was the same as trespassing.”
For now, Merideth says he’s planning on pursuing legal action against the owners of the drone.
“We’re not going to let it go,” he said. “I believe there are rules that need to be put into place and the situation needs to be addressed because everyone I’ve spoke to, including police, have said they would have done the same thing.”
“Because our rights are being trampled daily,” he said. “Not on a local level only – but on a state and federal level. We need to have some laws in place to handle these kind of things.”
Too bad the card wasn’t removed from the drone so evidence could prove one way or the other if the operator was indeed taking pictures of his friends house or creeping on the girls.
If the drone owner would have been walking around the yards checking out the girls or on the property would there have been justification for a punch in the face or at least an arrest for trespassing? Yup.
This is no different if evidence was shown. Cops and their owners are simply against citizens with firearms.
Hopefully over time, these Drones will become an endangered species. Agree 100% with the homeowner.
When a Drone is spotted over your house, wait till it goes away, get your rifle and find a hide. When it comes back, shoot it down. The camera on the Drone will not be able to identify any shooter..
Hide the rifle off your property – you will have time.
You don’t own the airspace over your home and unless there is a local ordinance it is public property unless there is some kind of criminal intention behind it. Anyone is free to use it within FAA regulations.
Shooting one is illegal, a criminal act, and anyone doing so should serve prison time the same as anyone else blasting away on public property and endangering the public.
Another fascist anonymous makes an appearance. Good for Meredith, I’d have done the same.
I agree with the homeowner wrt privacy but I also see how shooting into the air in a residential neighborhood is not a good idea. I personally wouldn’t risk killing a neighborhood pet or neighbor over it. Does sound like a great application for a slingshot though… 🙂
Shooting the thing down inside city limits is pretty fucking irresponsible. Even out in the sticks the crash could could start a fire. Having no details about the drone my concerns would be it crashing through my roof, crashing onto my car, crashing onto me, my family, friends or dogs, crashing on a busy road causing an accident plus a bunch of other bad, unintended consequences.
On the other hand, something needs to be done about these things. Just because you CAN do something, doesn’t mean you SHOULD do it. The days of members of the human race doing the right thing, acting responsibly, having common sense or common courtesy etc are just about over. This is what that looks like. Get used to it. It’s gonna get worse. I don’t call it The Great Regression for nothing!
From the article:
“Merideth was arrested and charged with first degree criminal mischief and first degree wanton endangerment.”
The charges don’t seem unreasonable to me. I assume the criminal mischief charge is for discharging a firearm in city limits. Wanton endangerment seems fair. If his action caused the drone to crash and damage your property or person, everyone here would want their pound of flesh.
You know IS, you’re correct, just because he could shoot it down doesn’t mean that he should because that is pretty dangerous with neighbors close by, as far as a fire I doubt it. More fires and littering are caused by those stupid Japanese paper lanterns that are so popular now.
These drones can only stay in the air for about 20 min, wait for it to come down and go talk to the guy, if he’s an ass about it and refuses to prove he and his buddies were not creeping on a 16 year old daughter sunbathing, then smash the fucking drone on the ground.
These drones are not aircraft – they are RC hobby shit. Private citizens have no business flying these things around other people, nor should they be taking pictures.
It also pisses me off that Google Street View maps has pictures of my home. This shit gotta stop.
Card, I live out west and wildfires are rampant. Short those lithium batteries out and you can easily start a wildfire costing many millions and many lives in the process.
My brother and his friend use smallish airships to capture multi spectral images of just about anything a client wants. (it’s a legitimate business) They always notify neighbors, notify local law enforcement and have any required permits in hand before flying and their equipment is tethered.
IS, yes I’d want my pound of flesh, from the drone operators!
This wasn’t out west where everything’s at constant danger of being incinerated. It was Kentucky, and the fire danger was probably nonexistent. He shot it with a shotgun, which is intrinsically incapable of posing danger at distance. Remember Cheney shooting his buddy in the face. He purportedly shot straight up, and the thing wasn’t 150 feet in the air. They were flying it at 10-20 feet. I’m with the shooter. If I were the judge, I’d fine him $1 and give him one of those continuances where the charge is dropped if he doesn’t shoot anyone in the next six months.
@Anonymous: “You don’t own the airspace over your home and unless there is a local ordinance it is public property unless there is some kind of criminal intention behind it.”
It’s a blatant invasion of privacy, just because there’s no local ordinance doesn’t make it right.
With the advent of the internet, these people have a vehicle to post the pictures for all to see – nothing wrong with that either, just like Google Street View, that allows anyone to see pictures of your home / property. Google makes money via ads, by allowing others to see your property for ‘free’.
The question is “SHOULD it be a crime …”
Absolutely NOT!!!
Yes, there are dangers in shooting bullets into the sky … especially if a densely populated area … and, what if you live near an airport …. and I_S mentioned fires.
Still … the homeowner is 100% correct. It IS an invasion of privacy.
.
But, I am, as always, willing to compromise. If it’s illegal to shoot down the drone (due to the dangers involved) …. at least let us shoot the drone operator
When technology changes sometimes laws need to adapt. There should be restrictions on creeping over people’s houses, backyards and other places that are private and always have been. And that should apply to both private citizens and government.
Shooting in a city is illegal in most cities, but I don’t blame the guy for his actions. Sounds like the drone guys – seriously, FOUR of them??? – were jerks.
BTW, a shotgun with birdshot does not actually present much danger in the area if fired into the sky. More than zero, but not much.
Petty misdemeanor, then.
My favorite thing about the story is that the shooting took place in Bullitt County. Makes me want to watch a Steve McQueen movie.
These fuckers with their drone were enjoying the invasion of others privacy. Shoot it down as long as you’re shooting up and cannot hurt anyone, as in impossible to hurt anyone.
Tommy
When you shoot a bullet straight up … does it go into outer space, or does it come back down to earth? And, IF it comes back to earth and hits someone in the head .. will that hurt?
I’m referring to shot guns, I should have stated that. Otherwise, I see you’re still smarting from the beat down on ‘are inventions nouns’, so in the spirit in which you intended, right back at ya.
Drones are going to present more problems as they become more popular.
In San Bernardino County, there have been drones in the air over three recent wildfires, including the one involving cars burning on I-15. In all cases, air tanker suppression efforts had to be delayed for 20-30 minutes longer than necessary until the drones droned off.
As for Mr. Merideth, I admire his tenacity in protecting his home and family against a peeping Tom.
Not only should it NOT be a crime he should get an award. Drone hunting season! 12 months long!
If radio-controlled drones become a big enough nuisance, I predict you’ll be able to purchase a broad-spectrum jammer that, when activated, cuts the operator’s link to his machine and, once it runs out of juice, it drops like a rock wherever it is.
Anyone who considers using a rifle or handgun to shoot at a drone is a MORON. Unless fired almost directly up, the lateral velocity on the bullet is more than enough to be deadly. Only a bullet that basically falls at free-fall velocity is not dangerous (proven on “Mythbusters.”) This requires an almost straight-up trajectory.
Personally, I look forward to jamming electronics becoming available.
Other ideas:
1. Paintball gun. If the drone is low enough and over your property, a paintball gun should be able to hit it.
2. A fishing rig on a bow (or better, crossbow), that uses a line spool; fire over the drone, line lands on it and either tangles the rotors (crashing it) or you reel it in. Most likely it crashes.
If the drone is quite low, it doesn’t belong there and should be fair game. Especially, anyone who then complained about their drone being downed and destroyed would have a hard time explaining how a fishing-rig on a bow (which is a very short range thing indeed) would have been able to down their toy if they were using it honorably.
I’d consider putting a blunt point on the arrow, but it looks to me like this would be the way to go if one encountered ongoing problems. I’m not sure I’m hot to drop $150-300 on tool I may never need, however.
I read Donald Trump’s book “The Art of the Deal” when it came out and in that book he discussed the ownership of “airspace” over property. I have been tempted on occasion to ask county government how to legally declare ownership of the airspace over all my properties. Do we own the airspace over our property and if so to what height? In the future TPTB will advertise in the air over property especially in the urban areas. Can we have dominion over anyone invading the space over our homes or offices?
Trump said way back then that there was a rush to buy up the airspace over buildings in the large cities…….the sheep were not in on that info.
DC- Slingshot and a rock, worked for David in the Bible.
Some of the posts here make me think psychological testing requirements for gun owners would be a rather good idea.
Observation without Authorization…
It is a crime known as “Peeping Tom”
@Anon: I agree that a more thorough background of mental states before allowing (handgun only) fire arms purchase may marginally be justified.
As fr as “gun control” is concerned, when I want to sell a weapon, I just let my local gun shop do the selling. That way the buyer knows all is clean with it. Yes, a paper(digital bit) trail is established but I don’t care unless they use it to attempt confiscating the rest of my firearms. Then another reaction will happen!
Why hide behind the “Anon” with the post? NUTs shouldn’t have means to destroy life by use of guns. Knives, fists and a piece of wood to cause havoc is perfectly allowable. All the cops can do is clean up the mess anyhow, —– not prevent it.
Damn, I’m glad to get this computer back up and running.. I’ve missed my TBP fix for the last week..
MA
By the way, if a drone was to hover over my backyard, I’d shoot it a bird, moon it or take a nice piss in the grass for it to see and record.
I doubt – being in a Florida towns’ city limit (regardless of Federal override law) – that’d I’d try and blow it out of the sky(even though a 20 Ga. pump) lies within easy reach. If it happens repeatedly, I ‘d likely change my mind.
MA
Stucky-If you haven’t gotten it yet, the guy used a shotgun, not a bullet-birdshot poses a very minimal hazard on its way back down to earth.
Re airspace-no, you generally do not own the airspace over your property, and depending on where you live, likely do not own the subsurface rights underneath it either.
Re should it be a crime to shoot a drone-NO. Sounds like a good guy to me-I hope he doesn’t wind up his case as a felon or diagnosed nutcase-we need guys like that to own guns.
Shooting a shotgun up in the air is about as dangerous as being hit by a spitwad. Unless it is a slug, or 00. But say #4 shot reasonable angled up, it s not going to hurt when on the way down. I cannot count the number of times I have been showered in pellets. A modest rain has more impact.
There should be a damn bounty on the things.
Why hide behind “Muck About” and not use your real name?
birdshot in a .22 caliber rifle can take down a drone without any hazard to others. He was justified in taking the drone out…
There are well over 1000 comments on MSN overwhelmingly in favor of the guy who shot down the drone, they all feel he was justified.
“I see you’re still smarting from the beat down on ‘are inventions nouns’, so in the spirit in which you intended, right back at ya.” ——— Tommy
I didn’t see it a “beat down” … although I did get far more thumbs down, for sure. I saw it as a friendly discussion … until YOU started with the name calling and insults. It’s not the first time that has happened with you. You’re good for about two comments that disagree with you, maybe three, before you go into shit-flinging mode …. usually over nothing. I find it humorous … how easily rattled you become.
I just bought a box of skeet shot for this very purpose. Try flying one of these fuckers over my property and you’ll see what happens.
“Stucky-If you haven’t gotten it yet, the guy used a shotgun, …” ——– AKAnon
You are correct. I missed that part.
I live in a densely populated area of New Jersey. If my neighbor — whose house is 30 feet away — started shooting his shotgun, and I don’t give a rats ass in which direction — it would freak me the fuck out. And I am NOT anti-guns, and I DO hate that drone flying cocksucker … yet people will vote me down cuz I’m not in favor od a Wild Wild West scenario in densely populated areas. WTF?
Anyway, very nice to see you around.
Stucky- You have to understand that in KY, shooting firearms on your property is a common everyday event. Hillview, KY is out in the more rural, less densely populated area south of Louisville.I doubt there are many residents in that area who are not armed. Not so much in the suburbs where houses are very close together. Hillview is populated with good ole boys who will shoot your ass off if you come on their property without an invite.
Except the city ordinance is illegal, because in Kentucky the regulation of firearms and ammunition is completely reserved to the state legislature.
The biggest mistake: admitting it.
Just shoot it down, clean your shotgun and just stare at anyone that ask. That is your 5th. Let a prosecutor work to convict you of something like that. They will not even bother.
I’ve got an old Mossberg 16 gauge that would be fun to use on those drones…but in my county, it’s illegal to discharge a firearm (unless in self-defense, of course). Beware of local laws and ordinances or you could end up losing your right to own a firearm in some of these cases.
Someone mentioned confiscating the memory card to see if pictures were taken. Some drones livestream video back to the source controller unit and the memory card is on the controller. So don’t count on destroying any pictures or video even if you destroy the drone on those types.
I wonder why these various “Anonymous” types drop by this interesting website all the time and spew out their bullshit. On the positive, these troll statist assholes are fun to insult. Hey Anonymous, when you start talking about psychological tests for gun owners, I can tell what your politics are. I surprised that you haven’t mentioned about how inserting one’s penis into an anus is another right worthy mention in the Constitution. Democrats always talk like this. Why don’t you go away and blow your hero Obama the man voted for!
anarchyst says:
“birdshot in a .22 caliber rifle can take down a drone without any hazard to others. He was justified in taking the drone out…”
So what everyone seems to be saying is that if I use my safe to fire into the air shotgun to shoot down a drone over my yard and it crashes through the roof of your house then it’s ok because I’m justified in defending my privacy. Drone operator is the bad guy and the shooter is golden.
You’re gonna put some lawyers kid through college fighting unlawful discharge and contributory negligence/reckless endangerment charges if you’re the shooter and real damage or injury is done.
Thanks Stuck. I am a regular lurker-just haven’t had the time or opportunity to post much for a while.
Re the legalities and practicality of shooting in your yard-all depends on where you live. In my town of Fairbanks, it is against city law to discharge a firearm (even an air rifle!) within city limits. Outside city limits, no problem. In fact, the Borough (what we call Counties) actually codified that a personal shooting range (for sighting in and other non-commercial purposes) is a protected use of most private property.
Remember recently the guy in Florida who put up his own gun range, which was perfectly legal? He did end up taking it down since it spooked the neighbors so much:
A Florida Man Turned His Front Yard Into a Shooting Range — and That’s Perfectly Legal
“Florida’s lax gun laws are compounded by urban sprawl, he said, noting that some formerly rural areas are now densely populated.
Local officials and police can’t do much about the shooting ranges. According to Florida Statute 790, gun control is the exclusive jurisdiction of the state. And under state law, domestic gun ranges are perfectly legit and very loosely regulated. There are no restrictions on the type of arms or ammo that can be used, on the time of day or night weapons can be fired, or on their proximity to schools, daycare centers, and playgrounds.”
https://news.vice.com/article/a-florida-man-turned-his-front-yard-into-a-shooting-range-and-thats-perfectly-legal
Old Muck isn’t hiding behind Muck About. I’m just doing what everyone else does. Jim knows my name and email. You wanna discuss the matter, get him to forward me your email.
Otherwise, sign your own name to your posts..
MA
I would use the old “solution” for the “endangered species act”..shoot, shovel and shut up”…works every time…
If the drone is less than 100 feet away, and over my property, it is trespassing. If there is a privacy fence, anyone, anything with a camera, that can look over my fence, has to be 500 feet away. Sure, zoom lens, but vibration will make any video grainy enough for privacy. Anyhow. Air cannon, net guns, rock salt, confetti guns.