Man gets 30 days in jail for drone crash that knocked woman unconscious

Man gets 30 days in jail for drone crash that knocked woman unconscious(theverge.com)

9 points by alanpage 8 years ago | 4 comments

Cpoll 8 years ago |

There's not enough info in this article, sadly.

If an operator logs a bunch of practice hours but makes a mistake in a crowded area and collides with someone, is that negligence necessitating this sort of punishment?

If the device isn't badly maintained but has an unexpected failure and collides with someone, is that negligence?

Now read those questions again with a different context, say "bicycle" or "skateboard." Statistically speaking, if drones are much more likely to cause injury than bicycles, maybe there needs to be laws. If not... well, I'm not sure it's expedient to ban everything in order to save the children.

Zanni 8 years ago | |

Agree that there's not enough info in the article, but the fact that he got jail time is a pretty significant bit of information. You suggest comparing the incident to losing control of a bicycle or skateboard, but those aren't powered, like a drone. And bicycles and skateboards are allowed to mix with pedestrians--drone's aren't. So really, a better comparison would driving a moped up onto a sidewalk and knocking someone unconscious. Now it sounds a lot like negligence.

dragonwriter 8 years ago | |

> If an operator logs a bunch of practice hours but makes a mistake in a crowded area and collides with someone, is that negligence necessitating this sort of punishment?

Negligently operating a vehicle and causing bodily harm is a criminal offense eligible for jail or prison time, AFAIK, in many US jurisdictions. I don't see any rational reason that doing so with a remotely operated vehicle should be treated more leniently.

jaclaz 8 years ago | |

Here there are more:

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/man-convicted...

>The 25-year-old woman was standing near Fourth Avenue and Madison Street on June 28, 2015, when the 18-inch-by-18-inch drone crashed into a building and fell into the crowd, striking her in the head, according to Seattle police. ...