A judge has ruled that a man, dubbed the “drone slayer,” had the right to shoot down his neighbor’s drone that he claims was hovering above his property.
“He had a right to shoot at this drone, and I’m gonna dismiss this charge,” said Judge Rebecca Ward, according to the report from WDRB in Louisville.
The Bullitt County District Judge dismissed the charges against William Merideth for shooting down the drone on Monday.
This goes against what we’ve seen in neighbor disputes so far, like this case in California, in which we reported that a small claims court ruled in favor of the drone owner, who’s “homemade hexacopter” was shot down by a neighbor during a post-Thanksgiving recreational flight last fall.
Merideth told WRDB that he feels “vindicated” for taking down the drone that he thought was “spying on his family.”
The drone’s owner, David Boggs, said that he was flying higher than the property owner claimed. Boggs told Ars Technica that he was “beyond shocked” at the ruling, even after submitting the video and data from his flight.
Last week, we reported that the U.S. Department of Transportation is “fast-tracking” a plan to register recreational drones with the recommendations coming by Nov. 20 and the rules in place by mid-December.
