In this controversial drone case, the judge said yes
Recently a judge dropped all charges against a man who shot down a drone that kept coming back to hover above his property. This past August William Meredith was arrested after getting a shotgun and shooting down an $1800 drone that he suspected kept coming back to spy on his sunbathing daughter.
The judge said William had a right to shoot down the drone and she dismissed his charges.
William initially was inside his home when he said his girls, who were sunbathing on the back deck, came in to tell him there was a drone flying all around his and his neighbor’s yards.
“I went and got my shotgun and I said, ‘I’m not going to do anything unless it’s directly over my property,’ ” Mr. Merideth said, noting that the drone briefly disappeared when his daughter waved it off. “Within a minute or so, here it came. 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.”
Mr. Merideth said four men tried to confront him after the drone was shot out of the sky, but then changed their minds when they saw his personal firearms.
“I had my 40 mm [sic] Glock on me and they started toward me and I told them, ‘If you cross my sidewalk, there’s gonna be another shooting,’ ” Mr. Merideth told the station.
Apparently the judge also declared this case a harassment, especially since the guys that were manning the drone did this 6 times this year…
Ever since drones have been increasing with technology and become more accessible to the general population, issues like this have come up. There 
was a video that went viral of a woman trying to sunbathe on top of her apartment and a drone keeps flying right above her, prompting her to get a broom and attempt to knock it out of the sky. Too bad she didn’t have a gun like Mr. Meredith did.
Drones bring about all sorts of privacy concerns. The best thing to do is to be aware of what the laws are in your state, and in this case the drone was against the law by being below the tree line (which two witnesses confirmed). If you feel like a drone is against the law and invading your privacy, it would probably be best to call the police. Not all of us are as cool and ballsy as Mr. Meredith.
Let us know what your thoughts are!
