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Man Gets 30 Days In Jail For Drone Crash That Knocked Woman Unconscious (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The operator of a drone that knocked a woman unconscious was sentenced Friday to 30 days in jail, Seattle prosecutors said. The woman was attending a local parade when the drone crashed and struck her. Paul Skinner, a 38-year-old man from Washington state, was charged with reckless endangerment in connection to the 2015 incident, in which an 18-inch-by-18-inch drone collided into a building before falling into a crowd. The authorities said the 2-pound drone struck the 25-year-old in the head and gave her a concussion. Her boyfriend caught her before she fell to the ground. Another man suffered a minor bruise. The accident took place during during the city's Pride Parade. Skinner, who had turned himself in, plans to appeal the sentence. His attorney, Jeffrey Kradel, said the punishment was "too severe." His client remains free pending the appeal's outcome. A misdemeanor reckless endangerment charge -- one that poses "substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury to another person" -- carries a penalty of up to a year in jail.
The drone operator got lucky that the boyfriend of the injured woman acted quickly. People routinely die when they fall to the ground and hit their heads. Hence only 30 days, not a few years of prison. A car driver losing control and injuring a pedestrian would serve more time.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
If it truly was an accident and everyone was acting in good faith I think this is a rather severe overreach by the sentencing party.
Someone texting while driving hardly does so with the intent of running someone over either.
"I didn't mean for this to happen" is a bad defense if you consistently acted recklessly and caused an accident that hurt someone.
It's not like this was the first time the guy flew a drone over a crowd. It was going to happen sooner or later so while maybe not intentional it is hardly an unpredictable accident.
The main problem I have with the sentence isn't the time in jail, but rather the quality of the jailtime.
If the jail focused on education and rehabilitation rather than a punishment I think the time would be acceptable.
With the current way jail works I'm reluctant to even put people guilty of manslaughter in them unless they are likely to commit the act again.
Lightweight parachute systems are available for popular consumer drones (e.g. Skyfallx, Mars Parachutes, FruityChutes, Skycat.pro). Not endorsing as a substitute for good pilot judgement, but it might have helped here.
Must fly under 400 feet*
Must fly during the day*
Must fly at or below 100 mph*
Must yield right of way to manned aircraft*
Must NOT fly over people*
Must NOT fly from a moving vehicle*
src https://www.faa.gov/uas/getting_started/
If it truly was an accident and everyone was acting in good faith I think this is a rather severe overreach by the sentencing party.
Two pounds is about 1 kg, the weight of an average iron mallet, I'd say - more or less. Being hit on your head with a falling mallet could very easily kill you - it is only luck that saved this woman. Also, flying a drone is a deliberate act that does in fact carry the risk that it might fail for whatever reason and drop out of the air, which is why there are very clear rules banning you from flying near to people - not to mention near to buildings, overhead cables, and other things that the drone might hit. As it stands, this is not all that different from hurling a mallet or brick out over a crowd "just for a bit of fun"; it doesn't really matter that you were too dim to realise that it is wrong - the damage is the same.
I thought mass and speed (inertia) might have something to do with it.
For example, mosquitoes and other flying insects can bounce off my building windows without harm but birds usually die doing it. Similarly, it is easy for a tiny toy drone to bounce off a wall but will be much harder for any bigger drone, propeller guards or not.
Try putting propeller guards on this to see if it is going to help it slam into wall as OP suggested:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
Many people don't know that, but concussions are often life-threatening. People can appear to be normal at first and die of a seizure days later. That woman was lucky.
But that would require not only a lot of knowledge about guns but also a genuine interest in them.
Someone who builds his own guns aren't going to leave them around for the a toddler to play with.
Now, I'm not an American so my view of the average American might be a bit skewed, but from where I stand the gun problem that the US has isn't so much about the quantity of guns but rather the attitude towards them.
If someone left a gun unattended where I live that would be considered a big red flag. A gun isn't a toy, when not in use you put it away in a safe or a gun cabinet.
Guns and shootings are also highly preventable. Problem is Americans don't want to grow up and admit the more guns the public has the more gun violence occurs...
All SORTS of violent crime is highly preventable. Far more people are killed every year, for example, using pipes and clubs or other objects than are killed using "assault" rifles or ANY sort of rifle, shotgun, or other long gun. More people are killed with BARE HANDS than are killed by someone using any kind of long gun.
In fact, one of the most common ways to PREVENT someone from being violently killed by an attacker is: pointing a gun at the attacker. Defensive brandishing (and much less often, actualy shooting) of guns - usually handguns - happens hundreds of thousands of times a year. In places where people are allowed to carry, violent crime GOES DOWN. The "more legally owned and used guns equals more crime" meme is demonstrably false.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
You can always find cases of unfair sentencing where small crime X is punished at level Y in one place but at level 2 times Y or 3 times Y at another place. I have a relative who got caught for DUI on a two lane (one lane in each direction - no median) surface road within 2 miles of his house while driving home when he came upon a police roadblock he could not avoid. First offense. He had a lawyer. Still went to jail for a week over it. No wreck. No injuries. Barely crossed the DUI threshold. My best friend is a lawyer and I've learned from him that all of the following can play a role in sentencing.
1) Judge might be a hard liner.
2) Judge wants to send a message that the incident in question is not acceptable and deter others from doing the same (ie. DUI incident I referenced).
3) Defendant might have used a public defender and this almost always leads to a bad outcome for the defendant. My lawyer friend sometimes does criminal defense work and he's told me that the DA will often completely back down and offer greatly reduced penalties if he simply shows up in court to fight for his client. Defendants with PDs don't get these sweet deals.
4) Defendant could be a combative jerk in court and that played a role in the sentence.
Put it in context. The states with the highest level of "gun" homicides are also the states with the highest rates of ANY kind of homicide, including stabbings, beatings, etc.
Yes, it IS cultural, not legal. Which is why a place like Chicago - which has absolutely draconian gun laws - none the less has extremely high murder rates. But we're not talking about illegally possessed guns. We're talking about what happens to the rate at which the average innocent person is violently attacked before and after the place they live makes it legal for them to defend themselves, especially outside their homes. None of that has anything to do with hundreds of gang members in Chicago or New Orleans killing each other with (mostly) stolen or illegally owned guns.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.