Kentucky Gunslinger Will Not Be Required To Pay For Aircraft He Proudly Shot Down

A Kentucky man who proudly acknowledges that he shot down a neighbor's drone in 2015 will not be required to pay for damages to the aircraft after the case was tossed out by a federal judge.

The drone pilot was John David Boggs. He was demanding that William Merideth repay him for destroying his $1,500 drone that was flying at an altitude of nearly 200 feet over Merideth's property in July of 2015. Merideth had been charged with criminal mischief and wanton endangerment, but those charges had been previously dismissed, according to a report from television station WDRB. 

Merideth continued to claim that the aircraft was hovering low over his property. He said that it Boggs had kept flying, he would have left the drone alone. But once it hovered, he felt he had the right to shoot it down. Merideth said that he didn't know if whoever was flying the drone was trying to look at his daughters in their back yard, or what they were doing.

Boggs says he was simply practicing flying the drone, which he had bought just a few days prior to the incident, in anticipation of shooting video of his kids riding motocross. He has held firm to his claim that he did not fly low over Merideth's property, or hover.

The video from the aircraft seems to corroborate Boggs' story that the aircraft did not fly within 10 feet of the ground over Merideth's property. It does hover for about 30 seconds, but it was at an altitude over 200 feet at the time.

On March 21, Federal Judge Thomas B. Russell, the Senior Judge of the United States District Court, dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice saying the court did not have jurisdiction in the matter. Dismissing the suit "with prejudice" means that it cannot be refiled.

Merideth is unrepentant. In a cover photo on his Facebook page, he says "NOT ONLY DID I DO IT. BUT I MEANT TO DO IT. AND I'D DO IT AGAIN ... WITH A SMILE."

The profile picture on the Facebook page is captioned "THE DRONE SLAYER."

(Image from Facebook)

FMI: Full Article, https://www.facebook.com/william.merideth.7