Had Been Capturing Images Of The Orange County Sheriff's Department Station

The creator of the YouTube channel The Junkyard News was capturing images of the Orange County Sheriff's Department station in Lake Forest, CA recently, and he had happened to bring along his UAV to the shoot.

But before he could get the aircraft off the ground, he was approached by deputies, who had some questions for him.

According to the blog "Photography is Not A Crime", the only question the person would answer was when he was asked "Just taking pictures?"  "Yeah," he reportedly said, but then said he would not answer further questions.

He was then told that he should not fly the UAV "for safety reasons."

A second deputy was not so accommodating. The person was known to the deputies as being someone who posted videos to YouTube, and when the second deputy began to question him, he said that he had already answered questions from the first officer.

The second deputy told the man he was being detained. "Under suspicion of what crime," the man reportedly asked. "Flying a drone," the deputy answered.

Now, the aircraft had never left the ground, but the photographer was accused of flying the UAV above the FAA's 400 foot altitude limit.

When the deputy realized he was being captured on camera illegally detaining a citizen, he threatened to call homeland security.

The deputies also accused the photographer of flying the aircraft over private buildings ... even though the police building is public property.

Eventually, the photographer walked away free, but as more people have UAVs, and laws remain vague, these kinds of incidents are only likely to increase.

(Image from YouTube video)

FMI: Video of the Incident