Man Arrested After Crashing Drone at U.S. Open Not cool.
By Laura Entis
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
Punishing forehands, 130-mph serves, an occasional on court temper tantrum – these are things you can expect to see at the U.S. Open.
A drone crash, however? While not an expected fixture at the tennis tournament, spectators at the second-round women's match between Monica Niculescu of Romania and Flavia Pennetta of Italy on Thursday night bore witness to one, the New York Daily News reports.
The drone crashed in an empty seating area at the back of the stadium. Luckily, no one was injured.
The unmanned aircraft's alleged pilot Daniel Verley, 26, was arrested early Friday morning. Verley wasn't even in the stadium – instead, he was piloting the device from "a marina on the opposite side of Citi Field," a source told the outlet.
Pennetta – who won the match 6-1, 6-4 – was understandably unsettled by the crash. It was "a little bit scary, I have to say," she told the Associated Press. "With everything going on in the world…I thought, 'OK, it's over.' That's how things happen."
This isn't the first drone-based drama, nor will it be the last. Earlier this summer a California man was fined after gunning down his neighbor's drone.
