One Man Slightly Injured, No Charges Filed

This will likely give some fodder to the anti-UAV crowd. A quadcopter that was being flown over the Marblehead, MA Memorial Day Parade Monday got away from its operator and struck two people watching the parade, causing a minor cut on the back of the neck of one person.

That was the only injury suffered by Scot Yount, according to television station WBZ in Boston. But Yount said while he was not particularly upset, he had been holding his young daughter moments before he was struck by the aircraft, and if she had been injured, it would have been a much different story.

The other person who was struck was a woman. The aircraft bounced off her shoulder, according to the report.

The operator of the aircraft was not identified, but a police report obtained by WBZ said he was "very apologetic and embarrassed" by the incident.

The report indicated that the operator said he'd flown the aircraft "numerous times" without a problem, but would not be flying his UAV over Marblehead in the future.

Marblehead police chief Bob Picariello told the station that no permits are required to fly a UAV in the city, and that no charges will be filed. It remains to be seen if the local government will try to change that based on this incident.

(Image from file. Not incident aircraft)

FMI: www.faa.gov/uas/regulations_policies/