Drone a disturbance during Lake Coeur d’Alene rescue
Police were trying to persuade a suicidal man to come out of the frigid lake near the Coeur d’Alene Resort earlier this month when overhead a small drone darted about, distracting them.
The unmanned aerial vehicle was about 75 feet in the air – “close enough that the noise from it was a problem while they were trying to talk to the victim,” Coeur d’Alene police Sgt. Christie Wood said.
Units from the Coeur d’Alene police and fire departments and the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office participated in the Feb. 12 rescue in Lake Coeur d’Alene next to Tubbs Hill. The shirtless man spent nearly two hours in the cold water and emerged with hypothermia.
The constant movement of the drone was visually distracting to the responders, Wood said Wednesday.
“They were trying to focus on the victim and the drone kept catching their eye.”
While there are no local laws governing the use of drones, those who operate them should keep a safe and respectful distance from rescue operations, police standoffs and other emergencies, police said.
“Here you’re dealing with a suicidal male. You just don’t need that kind of stuff going on,” Wood said. “He was trying to do harm to himself, and the drone was flying quite close to them. You don’t want the situation agitated.”
It’s not clear if the drone was photographing the rescue, but many quadcopters and other unmanned vehicles are equipped with video or still cameras.
“I think they have quite a bit of capability. There’s no reason they can’t be higher and still get a camera shot,” Wood said.
Eventually, rescuers on shore and divers in the water lifted the man out of the water, carried him to a gurney and took him to Kootenai Health for treatment.
Rapid advances in drone technology have led to a surge in sales of the aircraft, while state and local governments are just beginning to consider rules and restrictions on their use, from government surveillance to snooping on one’s neighbors.
Last week, the Federal Aviation Administration released proposed rules for commercial drones under 55 pounds, making it fairly simple for aerial photographers, police departments, real estate agents, farmers and anyone else to use them in their work.
If adopted, the rules would require licenses to use the aircraft and mandate that operators keep the drones within eyesight and under 500 feet.
On Tuesday, FAA official Mark Bury told state attorneys general meeting in Washington, D.C., that his agency needs help enforcing federal rules on drones, according to U.S. News & World Report.
“We’re hoping that moving forward we’ll be able to enlist the assistance of local law enforcement in gathering information about operations of unmanned aircraft that violate our regulations,” said Bury, the FAA’s assistant chief counsel for regulations. “We simply don’t have the manpower.”
Fifteen states in some way regulate unmanned aircraft, mostly limiting their use by state authorities.
In 2013, the Idaho Legislature passed a law banning the use of unmanned drones to conduct surveillance or record or photograph “specifically targeted” people or private property without their written consent, including for the purposes of publishing. The law exempts drones used in mapping or resource management, law enforcement activity with a warrant, and emergency response for safety, search and rescue or controlled substance investigations.