- Joined
- Feb 21, 2014
- Messages
- 188
- Reaction score
- 1
The 5th of April was one of Charleston SC largest event weekends. Amongst other events that bring thousands to the area was the Cooper river bridge run. The 7th largest road race in the country with 30k+ finishers. It's larger than the Boston Marathon in terms of the amount of participants. The security presence was high to say the least. On par with a presidential visit. But with the number of mass shootings taking place in this country and the Boston Marathon bombings less than a year ago I can't say it was unnecessarily high.
I usually participate in the run but my wife and I procrastinated this year and didn't want to pay the increased entry fee for signing up late. My real excuse was to go to a park next to the bridge and film the race with my Phantom. Bad idea...
I parked near the base of the bridge, which is about mile 2 of the 6.2 mile race. I walked over to the park at the base of the bridge, with my phantom in hand. I passed and was eyed pretty hard by several police officers. It really didn't occur to me I was doing anything suspicious, or illegal at the time. I had a backpack as well, for my spare batteries, my tripod and video screen for FPV. But the Phantom was in my hand, out in the open. There was nothing covert about my attire, appearance or what I was about to do in the wide open.
After passing a half dozen officers one stopped me and said;
"You can't have that hear, no drones on the bridge run."
I said; "I wasn't flying it on the bridge, I was going to the park and would be filming away from the bridge and people."
He repeated himself.
A second officer, a county sheriff asked for my identification. I obliged, which he took to his vehicle to run a check on me.
I asked the first officer; "Is there a specific ordinance or law I would be breaking by flying it in the park?"
He said; "Yes, no drones for the bridge run."
I said; "really, there is a specific ordnance that I can't fly a drone on the bridge run"
He corrected himself; "No but there are no drones for the bridge run"
The first officer left and handed it off to a third officer. After they finished running my background check the 3rd officer told me;
"Here's the deal, The way society is today and with everything going on we can't have you flying this today. Just bring it back to your car. If you launch this we're going to have to ticket you. We don't want to have to do that today, it creates more hassle for you and us."
Sheriff; "Here is a ticket saying we ran your ID. We may be in contact with you."
Third Officer; "Can I get your phone number?"
Here is the ticket: Scroll down to see "nature of violation"
I put the Phantom away and was a good citizen the rest of the day. But I have some serious problems with what happened.
First I want to say the officers were doing their job, and the bridge run went off without incident. Kudos to law enforcement.
With that said I don't really understand how what I was doing is labeled as suspicious activity or denying my right to photograph an event (from a safe distance with no people overhead) is law enforcement. Most of my flight would have been over water.
I'm also a marked drone owner now. If there is any event or accident in the Charleston area involving a drone where the owner of the drone is unknown I will be one of the first persons to be contacted and/or suspected.
I don't know if the decision to not allow me to fly was made on the spot or was determined prior to the race. I walked past several officers before being confronted which leads me to believe it was made up on the spot. Even if it was determined prior to the race I'm interested to know the legality of making up laws for events. I can understand flying it over people is a public safety issue but flying in a park?
There was no concern about my backpack or what was in it. They also didn't check the drone for anything suspicious. Obviously there was no active threat based on drone use. Had there been they would have either inspected my drone and backpack and/or called in the bomb squad. This furthers my belief it was made up on the spot or for the event alone.
So, all in all I can't say I'm surprised at what happened. Just disappointed this is the state of our country.
Anybody else have a similar story? Or thoughts on what happened? Do I have to keep my head low? Are there any legal steps I can take? Or am I an idiot for thinking I have a right to use the Phantom during a big event, even in a safe manner?
I usually participate in the run but my wife and I procrastinated this year and didn't want to pay the increased entry fee for signing up late. My real excuse was to go to a park next to the bridge and film the race with my Phantom. Bad idea...
I parked near the base of the bridge, which is about mile 2 of the 6.2 mile race. I walked over to the park at the base of the bridge, with my phantom in hand. I passed and was eyed pretty hard by several police officers. It really didn't occur to me I was doing anything suspicious, or illegal at the time. I had a backpack as well, for my spare batteries, my tripod and video screen for FPV. But the Phantom was in my hand, out in the open. There was nothing covert about my attire, appearance or what I was about to do in the wide open.
After passing a half dozen officers one stopped me and said;
"You can't have that hear, no drones on the bridge run."
I said; "I wasn't flying it on the bridge, I was going to the park and would be filming away from the bridge and people."
He repeated himself.
A second officer, a county sheriff asked for my identification. I obliged, which he took to his vehicle to run a check on me.
I asked the first officer; "Is there a specific ordinance or law I would be breaking by flying it in the park?"
He said; "Yes, no drones for the bridge run."
I said; "really, there is a specific ordnance that I can't fly a drone on the bridge run"
He corrected himself; "No but there are no drones for the bridge run"
The first officer left and handed it off to a third officer. After they finished running my background check the 3rd officer told me;
"Here's the deal, The way society is today and with everything going on we can't have you flying this today. Just bring it back to your car. If you launch this we're going to have to ticket you. We don't want to have to do that today, it creates more hassle for you and us."
Sheriff; "Here is a ticket saying we ran your ID. We may be in contact with you."
Third Officer; "Can I get your phone number?"
Here is the ticket: Scroll down to see "nature of violation"
I put the Phantom away and was a good citizen the rest of the day. But I have some serious problems with what happened.
First I want to say the officers were doing their job, and the bridge run went off without incident. Kudos to law enforcement.
With that said I don't really understand how what I was doing is labeled as suspicious activity or denying my right to photograph an event (from a safe distance with no people overhead) is law enforcement. Most of my flight would have been over water.
I'm also a marked drone owner now. If there is any event or accident in the Charleston area involving a drone where the owner of the drone is unknown I will be one of the first persons to be contacted and/or suspected.
I don't know if the decision to not allow me to fly was made on the spot or was determined prior to the race. I walked past several officers before being confronted which leads me to believe it was made up on the spot. Even if it was determined prior to the race I'm interested to know the legality of making up laws for events. I can understand flying it over people is a public safety issue but flying in a park?
There was no concern about my backpack or what was in it. They also didn't check the drone for anything suspicious. Obviously there was no active threat based on drone use. Had there been they would have either inspected my drone and backpack and/or called in the bomb squad. This furthers my belief it was made up on the spot or for the event alone.
So, all in all I can't say I'm surprised at what happened. Just disappointed this is the state of our country.
Anybody else have a similar story? Or thoughts on what happened? Do I have to keep my head low? Are there any legal steps I can take? Or am I an idiot for thinking I have a right to use the Phantom during a big event, even in a safe manner?