Drone Operator Found Guilty In Seattle Pride Parade Incident | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-04.14.25

Airborne-NextGen-04.15.25

AirborneUnlimited-04.16.25

Airborne-AffordableFliers-04.17.25

SunnFun-DayFour-04.03.25

Tue, Jan 17, 2017

Drone Operator Found Guilty In Seattle Pride Parade Incident

Woman Knocked Unconscious By The Aircraft He Was Flying

A Seattle Municipal Court jury on Friday convicted an Oak Harbor man of reckless endangerment for losing control of his drone at the Gay Pride Parade in 2015.

The jury of six reached the unanimous verdict against Paul M. Skinner after deliberating about two hours.

The four-day trial before Judge Willie Gregory marked the first time the City Attorney’s Office charged anyone with mishandling a drone in public.

The Seattle Municipal Code defines the charge this way: “A person is guilty of reckless endangerment when he recklessly engages in conduct which creates a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury to another person.”

At trial, Assistant City Prosecutor Raymond Lee and Assistant City Attorney Jeff Wolf called several witnesses to testify, including a woman who suffered a concussion when the drone struck her head and a man who suffered a minor bruise from the drone’s strike. Another witness positively identified Skinner as the man who retrieved the drone after it landed near Safeco Plaza on 4th Avenue.

Reckless endangerment, a gross misdemeanor, carries a penalty of up to 364 days in jail and a $5,000 fine.

(Source: Seattle City Attorney news release. Image from file)

FMI: www.seattle.gov

 


Advertisement

More News

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (04.15.25): On-Course Indication

On-Course Indication An indication on an instrument, which provides the pilot a visual means of determining that the aircraft is located on the centerline of a given navigational t>[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (04.15.25)

“The remaining infrastructure and staffing for this outdated method costs taxpayers millions of dollars annually to support the small number of pilots that have not converted>[...]

NTSB Prelim: Wild Sky LLC Goat

Weather Conditions Were “Very Gusty” At The Time Of The Accident On March 14, 2025, about 1515 eastern daylight time, an experimental amateur-built Wild Sky Goat light->[...]

Airborne 04.16.25: NYC Heli-Tour Shutdown, FAA Closing RCOs, A-26 Restoration

Also: Penguins Are Bad Pilots, DA42 Fleet Delivery, Coulson Expands, CAF SoCal Celebrates Spitfire 80th The FAA issued an emergency order shutting down New York Helicopter Charter,>[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (04.16.25)

"The FAA is taking this action in part because after the company’s director of operations voluntarily shut down flights, he was fired.... The review, known as a Certificate H>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC