But Has Added A Charge Of 'Reckless Flying Of A Drone'

The city of Los Angeles has dropped all three counts it had filed against filmmaker Arvel Chappell III under its recently-passed anti-drone ordinance ... but the city hasn't entirely let the filmmaker off the hook.

Chappell had been the first person in Los Angeles to be charged under the ordinance. In December of last year, he was cited for allegedly flying his UAV at an altitude over 400 feet and within a quarter mile of Hooper Heliport.

During Chappell’s hearing on March 10, his attorney challenged that the City’s ordinance is pre-empted by federal law which has the sole governing authority to regulate aviation, including unmanned drone aviation. At the time, the City Attorney’s Office stated it was not prepared to defend the ordinance, and therefore sought and received a continuance of the hearing until March 28.

At that hearing, the city dropped its original charges against the filmmaker, but added the charge of "reckless flying of a drone" under the same ordinance.

Chappell said on the website for his film "Compton: The Anwton Ross Story" that he and his attorneys "are challenging the new charge and we're due back in court in early May. Until then, back to filmmaking."

(Image from file)

FMI: www.comptontakesflight.com/blog/2016/3/29/an-update-on-the-drone-case