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A North Dakota court has preliminarily upheld the first-ever use of an unmanned drone to assist in the arrest of an American citizen. A judge denied a request to dismiss charges Wednesday against Rodney Brossart, a man arrested last year after a 16-hour standoff with police at his Lakota, N.D., ranch. Brossart's lawyer argued that law enforcement's "warrantless use of [an] unmanned military-like surveillance aircraft" and "outrageous governmental conduct" warranted dismissal of the case
Court records state that last June, six cows wandered onto Brossart's 3,000 acre farm, about 60 miles west of Grand Forks. Brossart allegedly refused to return the cows, which led to a long, armed standoff with the Grand Forks police department. At some point during the standoff, Homeland Security, through an agreement with local police, offered up the use of an unmanned predator drone, which "was used for surveillance," according to the court documents.
Brossart is believed to be the only American citizen who was arrested with the assistance of a drone on U.S. soil. John Villasenor, of the Washington, D.C.-based Brookings Institution, says the legality of domestic drone use likely stems from two Supreme Court cases that allow police to use "public, navigable airspace" for evidence gathering.
Originally posted by darkbake
And I thought they were only supposed to be used in training exercises? That's what the official word was when they authorized more than 20,000 drones for use in U.S. airspace earlier this year.
Originally posted by antonia
Originally posted by darkbake
And I thought they were only supposed to be used in training exercises? That's what the official word was when they authorized more than 20,000 drones for use in U.S. airspace earlier this year.
You actually believed them? This has been going on for ages. It doesn't matter if it goes to SCOTUS as they will uphold it. Both sides of the aisle want this power.