CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Officers have arrested a man for flying his drone near a police helicopter.
On Thursday at approximately 12:40 a.m., officers were in a helicopter circulating the area of Central Avenue and Sharon Amity Road searching for a wanted suspect who was running from police.
During the search, the Aviation Unit was notified by officers on the ground that a male subject near that intersection had launched a drone in the air around the same altitude and flight path as the helicopter. The Aviation Unit immediately and abruptly had to alter their flight path in order to avoid a mid-air collision with the drone.
The subject, Christopher Baucom, 26, was asked to immediately land the drone by officers on the ground. Baucom initially refused to comply with officers’ orders but after speaking further with officers, he eventually landed the drone.
The drone was of such a size that it is required to be registered with the FAA. Baucom refused to provide officers with a registration or identification and told officers that he did not need to comply with their requests to do so.
Officers placed Baucom under arrest and charged him with Interference with Manned Aircraft by Unmanned Aircraft System and Resist.
Baucom was also found to have been listening to a scanner to listen to police radio traffic and advised officers that he drove to the scene for the sole purpose of flying his drone at 1000 feet above ground level and taking video footage of the police helicopter as it worked the call.
