A Hollywood man was sentenced Monday, April 12, to probation and fined $500 for recklessly operating a drone that crashed into a Los Angeles Police Department helicopter and forced an emergency landing.
Andrew Rene Hernandez, 22, pleaded guilty in January to a misdemeanor charge of unsafe operation of an unmanned aircraft.
Federal prosecutors have said this is the first time in the nation the unmanned-aircraft charge was deployed.
During the early morning hours of Sept. 18, LAPD officers were dispatched on a burglary call to a Hollywood pharmacy. They requested air support.
As an LAPD helicopter approached the pharmacy, the pilot saw the drone and attempted to evade it.
The drone struck the helicopter, forcing the pilot to initiate an emergency landing. The drone damaged the helicopter’s nose, antenna and bottom cowlings, according to court papers, which say that “if the drone had struck the helicopter’s main rotor instead of the fuselage, it could have brought the helicopter down.”
LAPD officers located parts of the drone near the pharmacy. A review of the drone’s camera and SD card led to the identification of Hernandez as the drone’s operator.
The FBI executed a search warrant in late October at Hernandez’s home, and he admitted to flying the drone on Sept. 18 after he heard police vehicles and an approaching helicopter just after midnight. Hernandez said he flew his drone “to see what was going on,” according to court papers.
Hernandez’s arrest in November came during National Drone Safety Awareness Week, sponsored by the Federal Aviation Administration.
