The video below is going viral on the Internet and purportedly shows Andrea Mears, 23, getting interestingly irate over a man flying a drone on a public beach. The beach is reportedly Hammonasset Beach in Madison, Connecticut. She is heard calling the police and objecting to his filming people. She is shown holding the man’s equipment and then the scene turns violent. During the fight, she is quoted as saying “Yeah! That’s what you get you little pervert.” However, it turns out that it would be Mears who would be arrested.
As we have previously discussed, just as citizens have a right to film police in public, they have a right to film other citizens as long as it is not harassing or endangering those citizens.
The woman was eventually arrested according to the PINAC website. She was charged with assault in the third degree and breach of peace.
What is interesting is that the man (who goes by the web name of “Hogwit”) claims that the woman then accused him of assaulting her and that the police believed her until he was able to show his videotape. Mears is quoted as saying during the fight “Then maybe you shouldn’t be taking pictures of people on the beach! I’m gonna beat your a** you little m*****f*****!” However, Hogwit says that she then claimed it was he who assaulted her. This is from a forum linked by PINAC:
They first listened to her story of lies (she claimed I was taking close ups of people in bikinis, and that she had asked me to stop flying before calling the police, and that I was the one that assaulted her, and and and). The police approached me very aggressively, believing her full story, and before anything else was said I brought up something that she missed… The fact that the cell phone in my hand has a camera…that was recording. I had video evidence that she went nuts completely unprovoked, and was the one that assaulted me.
Someone should look up every claim she’s made in the past; I’ll guarantee… this is just the beginning.
While the law may be of his side, the law clearly must be amended. But it always amazes me, but shouldn’t, the amount of gleeful gendered violence that is recommended on this site, even though compared to others, it is relatively benign.
Tyger Gilbert
Funny, too, how people can be so upset over a video made by an individual with a tiny but highly visible quadracopter, and yet not be absolutely outraged by the massive illegal and secret spying on every citizen in the country by a government agency like the NSA!
= = =
Yes, it is interesting. The “Good Americans” know their patriotic place in this society… OBEY! Her ‘two minute hate’ outburst…
So, anyone with a camera in public is fair game to her?
… Or just at the beach?
Wow! That thing appeared to go quite high really quickly for a model quadracopter! And the video seemed to be excellent, too.
Liz, when the government starts passing laws against this sort of thing, it probably won’t be long until your favorite hobby is outlawed as well. And if private “drones” are outlawed, the government’s drones certainly won’t be, and everyone should be far more afraid of them.
Funny, too, how people can be so upset over a video made by an individual with a tiny but highly visible quadracopter, and yet not be absolutely outraged by the massive illegal and secret spying on every citizen in the country by a government agency like the NSA!
Looked up the guy’s channel, this is what he shoots with his drone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXehmGMF1JA
Oh the humanity! How are we supposed to feel secure when people can record video of public areas! I mean sure, you can’t really identify anyone from that far up, but this guy clearly gets his rocks off by taking distant video of the tops of people’s heads. Their ought to be a law!
I might feel differently if this were the state collecting information. Unlike some, I feel the state should have specific, identifiable reasons for collecting any information about anyone.
But if this is supposed to reflect the threat of individuals videoing private citizens in plain view in public areas then excuse me but I think I am going to go take a nap.
Barkindog! How the woof is it goin’?
That fat itchBay needs to be barred from the beach.
Hear hear! In the Philippines you get a fork and a spoon, almost never a knife to eat your meal. Expect its a throwback to the military law days, just as they still have manned checkpoints all over the place, even if they don’t stop you most of the time. You’ll have to define UAVs for me or what it stands for, but its presumably a drone. I saw my first private drone a few days ago in Moab. It was very exciting. Lets be laisez faire about this and only curb wrongdoers. The fun was taken out of motor cycle riding in California when the helmet law came in. Too many laws takes the fun out of everything!
Crazy… Now to everyone here who has issues with these UAV’s, they may be dangerous if improperly used like anything else. You can use a knife to cut your steak at dinner or to stab someone. How you use something is what matters. Although I agree some people are reckless, they should only be punished if they cause damage to property or person. This is the same with driving a car for example. Stop trying to control people and take away their freedoms! Maybe you should learn more about these UAV’s, maybe speak to the person using them and see if they are competent. Now if you feel they are flying irresponsibly still after you speak to them and made your concerns known, why not call 911 and report them for reckless endangerment, the same as if someone was driving their car recklessly…
I can tell you I have over 2 decades of experience, I am also an engineer, and if you do things the right way the danger is close to non existent. Sure something can always go wrong, but you could also blow out a tire on your car and lose control of it.
I try to educate people on Rc and UAV’s and try teach so that we can prevent irresponsible flying. I hope that people here can open their minds and remember our rights and freedoms so that we can all work together.
The really sad part is the comment by Carol8: “If it isn’t the government it’s some creepy jerk.” Whoa there! Since when is a guy playing with his toy on a public beach automatically assumed to be a “creepy jerk”???
Trash television has obviously been shaping public attitudes. And Ms Mears is not very bright either. Bring the two together, and you have a general public that doesn’t know what to think.
By the way, the guy says on his blog that he is respectful of what he is filming and his altitude while doing it. Plus, the cops told him he can come back any time. Puts a different spin on the story, eh?
This is anonymous. 4chan is coming.
Nick, I totally agree. People’s thinking and behavior are controlled by the media.
Tyler, Media has gone from informing people to scaring the bejesus out of them. Crime, weather, natural disasters, etc. The weather channel is one of the worst. People need to turn off the tube, get of their fat asses, and enjoy life, not live in fear of it.
Where will these drones wind up next?
It used to be that a photographer was considered an artist and the images he or she produced were works of art or at least journalistic documentation, depending on the end use. Nobody thought anything bad about a photographer taking pictures of people in public. It was (and still is) perfectly legal. A photo of an identifiable private individual needed permission in the form of a written or verbal release for the photo to be published (without potential liability), but a photo of a crowd could be published without one. The only people who would object to having their picture taken were those who were cheating on their spouses and didn’t want to be inadvertently recognized, or something similar, for example. Photographers were assumed to have legitimate purposes.
Today, with the wide availability of cheap digital cameras and image capture devices in almost every cellphone, people are taking photos everywhere at just about anytime. Even professional photographers are not given the respect and latitude they once received, and mere hobbyist photographers are suspected of pursuing their images with immoral, unethical, or illegal intent. A good photo of children at play can be a thing of beauty that everyone would enjoy, but now needs to be created only within a staged private setting. Someone taking photos of children in a public environment is automatically considered a pervert or a pedophile in this current sick society. Because of this, I have limited my work to nature and wildlife photography these days. Nobody (yet) accuses an old man of having vile reasons for shooting images of beautiful scenery and wild animals, and I have a lot more fun doing it than taking pictures of people.
Be careful around fat hogs on a public beach. If he said he was flying his model airplane then there would not be this hoopla about “Drones”. The woman is crazy. The question here should be why she is not locked up and evaluated for severe mental illness and put into forced treatment. Phenothiazenes would be a start but shock treatment might be necessary due to her size. Instead of barring people with model airplanes on this beach they should start barring big fat humanoids with attitudes. Particularly in that latitude.
carol8;
One has the right to complain and/or be indignant concerning an activity you find unacceptable; but
no one has the right to get abusive about such and then lie to officials to cover up their abuse.
Isn’t it nice when the real victim is put in cuffs.
carol, If you are in public there is no reasonable expectation of privacy. North Korea and other repressive regimes control photos in public areas. Free societies do not.