A Kentucky man shot down a drone hovering over his daughter, who was sunbathing, and was then arrested after being charged with first degree criminal mischief and first degree wanton endangerment.
The owner of the drone claims he was only taking pictures of a friend’s house, but William Merideth says he had a good, sound reason to take the action he took:
“He didn’t just fly over (my property). 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. We don’t know if he was looking t the girls. We don’t know if he was looking for something to steal. To me, it was the same as trespassing.”
“I didn’t shoot across the road. I didn’t shoot across my neighbor’s fence. I shot directly into the air.”
Mr. Merideth nailed it! The unknown, accompanied by the fact that the drone was intentionally and repeatedly being flown where it had no permission to fly, motivated him to defend his home and remove a possible threat to his family.
Shortly after shooting down the perceived invader from the sky, four men confronted Mr. Merideth at his home, but they quickly retreated after the well-armed homeowner told them “if you cross my sidewalk, there’s gonna be another shooting.”
The police then arrived and arrested Mr. Merideth.
From advanced spying technology used by the police force to virtually look inside our homes without a search warrant to the NSA spying on our phones and computers that enable them to spy on all of our electronic communications, technology continues to threaten our constitutional rights.
And when it comes to drones, was are learning that our “reasonable right to privacy” isn’t protected under existing law, a particularly troubling fact when you consider the increased use of them by police and the Federal government. And let’s not forget the concerns raised by Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) during a filibuster not so long ago when Obama announced his plans to increase using drones over America soil.
With all three branches of government becoming increasingly tyrannical each passing day, we need to be vigilant to protect our constitutional rights as never before. Our right to life, liberty and property depend on it.
David Leach is the owner and publisher of The Strident Conservative where he is proudly politically-incorrect and always “right.” He is also a frequent contributor at RedState.com.
His political commentaries can be heard daily on KLZ560 AM along with other Crawford Broadcasting stations, and he is frequent on-air guest host for Crawford Broadcasting programs.
Contact him at david@stridentconservative.com
