Man Crashes Drone Into Empire State Building

A drone operated by a man from New Jersey crashed into the Empire State Building last week (Feb. 4) around 20:00 when its owner lost control.

Reportedly, no one was injured during the incident and no property damaged.

The drone was being operated by Sean Nivin Riddle, 27 years old.

He had been trying to take aerial pictures of Manhattan.

The aircraft crashed onto the 40th floor and then fell down to a ledge on the 35th floor, according to the authorities who told NBC New York .

A man with the same name as the drone operator tweeted about the event, saying his drone had crashed into the Empire State Building and that it was 'with security'.

It appears, however, that instead of helping him get it back, the Empire State called the police and had Riddle arrested.

An NYPD representative confirmed to the NBC News that Riddle's charges were reckless endangerment and criminal mischief. He claimed it was the least the drone operator could expect seeing as how he was flying his drone in a densely populated place - and then crashing it.

It is not clear whether Riddle got his drone back.

This is hardly the first case of a drone crash gone wrong in a notable place. A drone recently hit Seattle's Great Wheel and then went down on the deck of a restaurant nearby. Last year the White House was the target of a similar incident as a reportedly drunk National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency employee lost control of his drone.

In the meantime, Super Bowl attendees from yesterday evening were also prohibited from bringing drones by The Federal Aviation Administration. Drones were banned within a 36-mile radius of Levi's Stadium in the duration of the game.

The Department of Transportation has also recently made known that about 300,000 drone owners have registered their drones according to FAA's new rule. All owners of small drones (that weigh from 0.5 to 55 pounds) must register before Feb. 19 or before they first fly their aircraft outdoors.

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