Lane
2015-04-30 07:05:56 UTC
Note the obedient conditioned response of the concealed carry
gun nuts.
Kele Stanley has been charged with a felony because officials
say he refused to land the camera-equipped drone that he had
been guiding over a traffic crash scene, but he says he is no
idiot.
A videographer and remote-controlled airplane hobbyist, Stanley
admits that he twice flew his remote-controlled hexacopter
which looks more like a robotic spider than a hobby plane and
costs about $4,000 about 75 feet above where a pickup had hit
a tree on Saturday morning in Clark Countys Moorefield Township.
But he disputes the law-enforcement version that says he refused
to bring his drone down when authorities ordered him to because
a medical helicopter was about to land to transport the injured
driver.
I am not an idiot, said Stanley, who said he was shooting the
video as a hobby and would have turned it over to local
television stations, as he has done before. If I had known that
Care Flight was on the way, my helicopter would have come down
immediately. There wouldnt have been any dispute.
Stanley, a 31-year-old copy-machine repairman who videotapes
weddings as a side business, posted his $425 bail after being
arrested by Clark County deputies about 10 a.m. Saturday. He had
his initial court appearance yesterday on a felony charge of
obstructing official business and misdemeanor charges of
misconduct at an emergency and disorderly conduct.
His case already is drawing the attention of those interested in
the drone issue, the regulation of which is under debate at both
the state and federal level.
There currently are no regulations in Ohio governing private use
of the unmanned aircraft. The federal government has said that
law-enforcement agencies must receive special permits to use
them but commercial use by real-estate agents or corporations,
for example, that want a birds-eye view of something or the
hobbyists use is so far unregulated fair game.
Peter Sachs is a Connecticut lawyer, a (real) helicopter pilot
and a drone enthusiast who runs the Drone Law Journal. Hes a
critic of the Federal Aviation Administrations assertion that
it has a right to control such use.
He has watched Stanleys case play out in social media and,
judging by the expensive equipment that Stanley was using, Sachs
said it appears he is far from amateur. He said he cant
imagine that anyone would continue to fly knowing he could be
interfering with a helicopter coming in to save a life.
Sachs said the drones simply make some people nervous, so they
try to stop them. He sees it as a First Amendment issue: Anyone
can take a view from a public place of anything happening
publicly."
Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly didnt return a call seeking
comment, but the criminal complaint against Stanley says he was
told both by fire officials and a deputy that he had to stop
flying and why.
Stanley said he knew there was no law against what he was doing,
so he put the helicopter back up after being approached by a
deputy. But he says the first time he heard about Care Flight
was after he already had brought the drone down a second time,
and he didnt fly it again.
Sachs said those on both sides of the drone issue will be
watching the case.
If he did do something wrong, it should come out, Sachs said.
And if he didnt, that story needs to be told, too. Drones have
an unfair, bad connotation surrounding them.
The sheriffs office hasnt released the name or condition of
the man hurt in the crash.
***@dispatch.com
Comments:
OLD VET (OLDVET)
Guilty as charged, Pay the fine(s.) Simple rule of thumb says if
a law enforcement officer tells you to do something at a crime
scene or accident scene you do it. If you think he/she was wrong
you can bring it up later, but defying them at the scene can get
you or someone else seriously injured or dead. As a concealed
carry licensee I can tell you that is one of the first things
you are taught.
2014-04-15 10:29:08.0
flag
ROBERT JACKSON (DOGPATCHBOB)
When the whoever authority-figure tells you to stop playing with
your whirly-bird toy, please conform knowing you'll be able to
play again and have fun again with the other boys and girls.
Otherwise i would think that your newfangled gyro-copter thingy
is a major distraction to those trying to apply their services
to a very fast changing situation.
2014-04-15 18:41:50.0
flag
JOHN HEIN (JOHNHEIN)
You guys do realize that you live in the United States of
America, right? If you're not breaking a law, the police can't
require you to do something.
2014-04-16 11:57:14.0
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/04/15/man-
charged-in-use-of-camera-drone-at-accident.html
gun nuts.
Kele Stanley has been charged with a felony because officials
say he refused to land the camera-equipped drone that he had
been guiding over a traffic crash scene, but he says he is no
idiot.
A videographer and remote-controlled airplane hobbyist, Stanley
admits that he twice flew his remote-controlled hexacopter
which looks more like a robotic spider than a hobby plane and
costs about $4,000 about 75 feet above where a pickup had hit
a tree on Saturday morning in Clark Countys Moorefield Township.
But he disputes the law-enforcement version that says he refused
to bring his drone down when authorities ordered him to because
a medical helicopter was about to land to transport the injured
driver.
I am not an idiot, said Stanley, who said he was shooting the
video as a hobby and would have turned it over to local
television stations, as he has done before. If I had known that
Care Flight was on the way, my helicopter would have come down
immediately. There wouldnt have been any dispute.
Stanley, a 31-year-old copy-machine repairman who videotapes
weddings as a side business, posted his $425 bail after being
arrested by Clark County deputies about 10 a.m. Saturday. He had
his initial court appearance yesterday on a felony charge of
obstructing official business and misdemeanor charges of
misconduct at an emergency and disorderly conduct.
His case already is drawing the attention of those interested in
the drone issue, the regulation of which is under debate at both
the state and federal level.
There currently are no regulations in Ohio governing private use
of the unmanned aircraft. The federal government has said that
law-enforcement agencies must receive special permits to use
them but commercial use by real-estate agents or corporations,
for example, that want a birds-eye view of something or the
hobbyists use is so far unregulated fair game.
Peter Sachs is a Connecticut lawyer, a (real) helicopter pilot
and a drone enthusiast who runs the Drone Law Journal. Hes a
critic of the Federal Aviation Administrations assertion that
it has a right to control such use.
He has watched Stanleys case play out in social media and,
judging by the expensive equipment that Stanley was using, Sachs
said it appears he is far from amateur. He said he cant
imagine that anyone would continue to fly knowing he could be
interfering with a helicopter coming in to save a life.
Sachs said the drones simply make some people nervous, so they
try to stop them. He sees it as a First Amendment issue: Anyone
can take a view from a public place of anything happening
publicly."
Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly didnt return a call seeking
comment, but the criminal complaint against Stanley says he was
told both by fire officials and a deputy that he had to stop
flying and why.
Stanley said he knew there was no law against what he was doing,
so he put the helicopter back up after being approached by a
deputy. But he says the first time he heard about Care Flight
was after he already had brought the drone down a second time,
and he didnt fly it again.
Sachs said those on both sides of the drone issue will be
watching the case.
If he did do something wrong, it should come out, Sachs said.
And if he didnt, that story needs to be told, too. Drones have
an unfair, bad connotation surrounding them.
The sheriffs office hasnt released the name or condition of
the man hurt in the crash.
***@dispatch.com
Comments:
OLD VET (OLDVET)
Guilty as charged, Pay the fine(s.) Simple rule of thumb says if
a law enforcement officer tells you to do something at a crime
scene or accident scene you do it. If you think he/she was wrong
you can bring it up later, but defying them at the scene can get
you or someone else seriously injured or dead. As a concealed
carry licensee I can tell you that is one of the first things
you are taught.
2014-04-15 10:29:08.0
flag
ROBERT JACKSON (DOGPATCHBOB)
When the whoever authority-figure tells you to stop playing with
your whirly-bird toy, please conform knowing you'll be able to
play again and have fun again with the other boys and girls.
Otherwise i would think that your newfangled gyro-copter thingy
is a major distraction to those trying to apply their services
to a very fast changing situation.
2014-04-15 18:41:50.0
flag
JOHN HEIN (JOHNHEIN)
You guys do realize that you live in the United States of
America, right? If you're not breaking a law, the police can't
require you to do something.
2014-04-16 11:57:14.0
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/04/15/man-
charged-in-use-of-camera-drone-at-accident.html