Incident Captured On Video, Posted On YouTube

It was supposed to have been a fairly straightforward photo shoot. Huntington Beach, California-based Lucky7Drones was shooting a training video with a DJI Phantom 3 quadcopter, when a neighbor comes into the street and swats the aircraft, which is hovering at about 3 feet, out of the air.

According to reports from the company, three of the four props on the quad were broken, as was the aircraft's 4K camera.

According to the company: "While standing in front of one of our homes and filming a shot with the drone only rising 3-5 feet max, a disgruntled drunk neighbor snuck up and used his t shirt to swat the drone out of the sky.  When doing this, the Phantom 3 first hit the guy’s leg before crashing hard to the cement.  The resulting damage was a sliced up shin on the drunk guy, a smashed camera lens on the DJI Phantom 3 Professional, 3 busted props and a cracked and scratched up Phantom 3 airframe.  Keep in mind, we NEVER flew over anyone’s homes, in front of windows or did anything to be invasive.  We were hovering 3-5 feet off the ground to show off the sensitivity of our new aerial media platform.  One of our staff, Ben, was set up filming with his Panasonic GH4 Camera on a tripod while Jordin was setting up his P3 to show off options and how the sensitivity control affects flight and filming operations.  Thankfully all was rolling when it happened and we immediately took the video to the cops."

In the video, the man can be heard to say "don't fly that thing over my house," and after he swats the aircraft, he says "I don't even think that's legal."

The UAV has a value of about $1,350, according to the company, and damaging property over $500 is a felony in the state of California.

Again from Lucky7Drones: "[T]he officers went to visit this gentleman and explained to him politely (which he did not respond to well) that they had the ability to arrest him on the spot for Felony Vandalism and that the local D.A. does prosecute those charges.  They suggested he sober up and tomorrow (Wednesday) he pay the necessary restitution to replace this item to avoid the criminal charges. As of Thursday afternoon, we have not heard from the gentleman."

(Image from YouTube video)

FMI: www.lucky7drones.com, YouTube video