Accosted and Vandalized

[MAvic_South_Oz]

The guy that broke your mavic probably had no idea whether or not you were flying there legally or not. He probably wouldn't know a NFZ from an STD.

For sure this is most likely.
He stated broke it for invading his privacy, no mention of the NFZ.

Think it through Montmark, did you fly just a little close to those bluff homes ?
Maybe he (or his wife) had just come out of the shower into their bedroom starkers, curtains open to the views, and heard / noticed it.
Wouldn't be hard to upset highly strung people these days.

Chalk it up to experience, get another drone (you've got some spares and an extra battery now), and enjoy flying the new one with this previous experience to help guide places to fly.

 

[james_mav]

A week ago I was flying my Mavic on a local beach here in California which is a State Park, yes, illegal. I had been flying over some surfers for about 20 minutes and near a bluff with some houses overlooking the ocean and had landed and was preparing to leave when seemingly out of nowhere a man come sprinting down the beach and screams a profanity at me, grabs my Magic and smashes it over his knee saying something like "stay away from my windows." He finishes by ripping off an arm and the camera and throws my Mavic down to the sand and runs away. My wife and I are too stunned to speak much less have the presence of mind to take a picture of him. A young woman on the beach about thirty feet away and a group of surfers in the parking lot witness the whole incident. The local sheriff refers my call to State Park Police. Someone takes my report over the phone and does not contact me the rest of the week even though I call three consecutive days for an update on the "investigation." In the meantime I do some research and identify the man. We are a small community and this was very easy to do. Someone who knows the man says she has had "problems with him in the past." If State Park Police are unable or unwilling to prosecute do I have any other recourse? Of course I would like to recover the cost of a replacement Mavic. Do I need an attorney to file a small claims court case? This has been quite upsetting the past week to the point I've lost sleep thinking about it. Any help or suggestions appreciated.

You can't let this idiot get away with this. Either take him to court or take a knife & slash everyone of his tires.

 

[Mr. Salty]

The only problem with small claims court (at least in Texas), is that even if you win the case, there is almost nothing that can be done to make the loser pay up. I won $350 in small claims court a long time ago - I never received a dime, and there was nothing I could do about it. You can't have someone arrested for failure to pay a claim like this (at least not in Texas in 2009).

In states I've lived in it's easy to get a lien against the losing party in small claims in order to collect a judgment.

To the OP, as of mid-June it was still legal to fly in California state parks, with some local restrictions. I would double check for the park where you were flying, and if it's prohibited what the fine is.

Either way, I would take the guy to small claims court.

 

[scooot]

You know who he is,you know where he lives,right?.
Wait patiently until the dust settles and you have time to reflect and do your homework.Then when you think it's all forgotten about unleash a $1000 worth of anger on one of his possessions.This my friend is the route I would take.No one would do me over like situation you describe and come out the winner.Obviously you must make your own mind up as to the direction you want to take.Good luck.

 

[TrayBoz]

take a knife & slash everyone of his tires

unleash a $1000 worth of anger on one of his possessions

As much as I would LOVE to see something terrible happen to this guy, and maybe I'd even react this way if it actually happened to me, but looking at it from a 3rd person's perspective, I think "taking revenge" is a poor choice.

The message you're sending is: "What you did to me is terrible, ******, immature and the sign of a weak man, so now I'm going to do the same thing." How does vandalism make you any different than this *******? Yes, I know it would feel really good in the short run, but at the end of the day, you're lowering yourself to his level. If we all played by those rules we'd live in total anarchy. (Why call police? Just take revenge!)

I know it's easy to "take the high road" when it didn't actually happen to me, but I still say either beat him in court, legally, or just be the bigger man and walk away. Plus, if you did extract revenge, you'd probably spend the rest of your days looking over your shoulder, paranoid, waiting for his next move.

 

[Kate]

Would like to see them is all . No reason in particular other than you
just joined with what this guy did to you and would like to see the damage .

Not insinuating it's a "lark", but it's certainly entertaining.
Some forums are known to have a "pictures or it didn't happen' attitude.
I find it concerning he would do it with your wife there. Most people would feel too stupid.
and the "stay away from my windows", Lol classic.
Anyway, he's clearly either a shut in, or someone with too much time on their hands.
Angry at life, not the Drone
Reminds me of myself at moments I'd care to forget.

personally I'd have wrestled the drone back from him, or beat him to life with what was left of it.
At the very least, follow him home and put a newspaper on his front doorstep for the forseeable future.

 

[Flying Images]

It's kinda like calling the cops cause someone stole your weed. Sucks and it was wrong, don't stoop to his level, plus what if you are caught bashing his car?

 

[Hexagon]

Well what a shame for the ape-man that did this to you and your mavic. I dont live in the US so I have very few info regarding legal actions. As long as I understand you have three choises

• take the legal road, do what is in your power to take this man down via legal actions. Prepare to spend some money and be patient since legal road requires time. Talk to an attorney and start a plan on how to get this guy punished. Go for mavic replacement as well as psychological damage.
• Give it time, 3 months at least, get revenge via vandalizing his car or even hurting this guy yourself somehow.
• Let it go

Lots of pros and cons on every way, much less cons if you take route 3 where you have to swallow your ego and pay an extra 750 for a new unit. You can always try fixing the current one, you can ask @Thunderdrones . Route 2 doesnt fit your character IMHO, dont get me wrong, I dont know you but according to how you reacted and how you felt afterwards you dont seem like a 'revenge' guy, which is more than fine if you ask me. If I was in your shoes I would ask for a repair cost before buying a new unit. If I had time and money to spend, I would go for route no.1.

my 2 $

 

[TheLightSpeed!]

You can play dumb on flying there. However, damaging someone's property is NEVER okay. Trust me.

Call the police

 

[dirkclod]

Not insinuating it's a "lark", but it's certainly entertaining.
Some forums are known to have a "pictures or it didn't happen' attitude.
.

Well after being on PhantomPilots and here for over 4 years I have seen to many folks join and post such just to watch the members break out the knives ,bricks and all you have read just to sit back and laugh and is why I asked for pictures As far as I am concerned ,
The proof is in the pudding .
As far as entertaining I don't find that it was as I always end up have to edit out and warn some for inappropriate statements which I have had to by the way already when 1st time poster's come here with tales of such .
Now I didn't mean to run him off when I did ask for pictures but he hasn't been back on since I did .
Maybe he will come back and show some pictures but until then I
hate seeing members get riled up over nothing .
With that said after all I have seen folks do for no reason over our drones /UAV's or whatever you choose to call them nothing really
surprises me anymore .
Now I think I don't need to drink so much coffee in the morning's .

 

[JoostGT3]

Can't you just make his life miserable in another way for the foreseeable future? I mean; sign him up for all the free newsletters you can think of, have products delivered to his house, request free samples in his name... just some childish stuff that doesn't hurt him, but at least gives you the pleasure of revenge...

 

[BigDuke6ixx]

The the UK that would be criminal damage regardless of any wrong doing by the pilot. If it were me then one way or another I would get my own back. The log should prove he was nowhere near the ******* windows.

 

[MavicBouvier]

Sorry about your loss, I would get legal advice from a lawyer and see if it's worth while to pursue.

My devil instinct would be to buy a drop mechanism for the mavic and drop some turd on his car ....[emoji23]

 

[Samson 811970]

You can't let this idiot get away with this. Either take him to court or take a knife & slash everyone of his tires.

Horrible advice, IMO

 

[Samson 811970]

It's kinda like calling the cops cause someone stole your weed. Sucks and it was wrong, don't stoop to his level, plus what if you are caught bashing his car?

Great analogy!

 

[Jackrabbitslim]

Regardless of the fact you shouldn't be flying or not, this guy had no right to the course of action he took. Criminal damage as stated already. You did well not to react,me personally, I would have gave him a Glasgow kiss to the bridge of his nose, no question. But that's just me.

 

[BigDuke6ixx]

Regardless of the fact you shouldn't be flying or not, this guy had no right to the course of action he took. Criminal damage as stated already. You did well not to react,me personally, I would have gave him a Glasgow kiss to the bridge of his nose, no question. But that's just me.

Yeah, and I'd settle it the Arbroath way.

 

[Dan]

I don't care if he feels he has his privacy invaded, it does not give him the right to do what him did.

Plan and simple, it's criminal charges. Thats what I would keep pressuring the police and the DA, **** it if I have to pay and fine for flying then then so be it but this douche bag is not going to get away with it. Take the high road and let the law handle it and pressure them about it. They should be calling him to the police station for his statement.

 

[Josh Miller]

Can't you just make his life miserable in another way for the foreseeable future? I mean; sign him up for all the free newsletters you can think of, have products delivered to his house, request free samples in his name... just some childish stuff that doesn't hurt him, but at least gives you the pleasure of revenge...

Send a subscription to "Out", "Playgirl", or both to his house and pay for it yourself. If you start a gofundme page I'll throw in some cash.

 

[Ozman]

Wow things must be so different in the USA. Here in Australia you could have lawfully detained this psycho using 'reasonable force' to do so until the Police arrived. The Police would then have either arrested or reported this man for the offence of 'property damage.' The Police would then have put him before the courts (costing you nothing) & he would have been found guilty (given you had numerous witnesses) and he would have been convicted and forced to pay full compensation for the Mavic. However yes you may also be fined for flying in a prohibited area. Could you not enquire as to the amount of fine you would receive versus taking it to court? Hopefully you will hear back from the Police after they have reported him.