A North Dakota court has preliminarily upheld the first-ever use of an unmanned drone to assist in the arrest of an American citizen.

A judge denied a request to dismiss charges Wednesday against Rodney Brossart, a man arrested last year after a 16-hour standoff with police at his Lakota, N.D., ranch. Brossart's lawyer argued that law enforcement's "warrantless use of [an] unmanned military-like surveillance aircraft" and "outrageous governmental conduct" warranted dismissal of the case, according to court documents obtained by U.S. News.

[Photo Gallery: The Expansion of the Drone]

District Judge Joel Medd wrote that "there was no improper use of an unmanned aerial vehicle" and that the drone "appears to have had no bearing on these charges being contested here," according to the documents.

Court records state that last June, six cows wandered onto Brossart's 3,000 acre farm, about 60 miles west of Grand Forks. Brossart allegedly refused to return the cows, which led to a long, armed standoff with the Grand Forks police department. At some point during the standoff, Homeland Security, through an agreement with local police, offered up the use of an unmanned predator drone, which "was used for surveillance," according to the court documents.

Grand Forks SWAT team chief Bill Macki said in an interview that the drone was used to ensure Brossart and his family members, who were also charged, didn't leave the farm and were unarmed during the arresting raid.


http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012...an-citizen

LoP Guest  Wrote:

A North Dakota court has preliminarily upheld the first-ever use of an unmanned drone to assist in the arrest of an American citizen.

A judge denied a request to dismiss charges Wednesday against Rodney Brossart, a man arrested last year after a 16-hour standoff with police at his Lakota, N.D., ranch. Brossart's lawyer argued that law enforcement's "warrantless use of [an] unmanned military-like surveillance aircraft" and "outrageous governmental conduct" warranted dismissal of the case, according to court documents obtained by U.S. News.

[Photo Gallery: The Expansion of the Drone]

District Judge Joel Medd wrote that "there was no improper use of an unmanned aerial vehicle" and that the drone "appears to have had no bearing on these charges being contested here," according to the documents.

Court records state that last June, six cows wandered onto Brossart's 3,000 acre farm, about 60 miles west of Grand Forks. Brossart allegedly refused to return the cows, which led to a long, armed standoff with the Grand Forks police department. At some point during the standoff, Homeland Security, through an agreement with local police, offered up the use of an unmanned predator drone, which "was used for surveillance," according to the court documents.

Grand Forks SWAT team chief Bill Macki said in an interview that the drone was used to ensure Brossart and his family members, who were also charged, didn't leave the farm and were unarmed during the arresting raid.


http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012...an-citizen

the guy deserved to be arrested, fences are blown down all the time and gates accidently left open or cows push their way through, cattle theft like what he tried to do is incredibly wrong and owning 3000 acres like he did just makes him a wealthy prick who thought he could get away with doing what he knew was wrong

There was previous encounters between Brossart and law enforcement in the area. Looking for more details.

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012...one-arrest

The lawyer for the first American arrested with the help of a pilotless drone says "guerilla-like police tactics" were used to make the arrest.

Lakota, N.D., resident Rodney Brossart was arrested last June after a bizarre 16-hour standoff with police in which Brossart was repeatedly tased after allegedly threatening to kill officers who came onto his property. After the standoff, a SWAT team from nearby Grand Forks called in a Predator drone owned by the Department of Homeland Security to determine that they could safely arrest Brossart. He and police were sparring over the ownership of six cows that had wandered onto his farm.

Bruce Quick, Brossart's lawyer, said in court documents obtained by U.S. News that the use of the drone was "outrageous government conduct," and that the drone was "dispatched without judicial approval or a warrant."

In a separate interview, Quick says the case was mishandled from the start, and that police shouldn't have arrested Brossart in the first place. The use of the Predator drone was the last in a long-line of police misbehavior, he says.

"The whole thing is full of constitutional violations," he says. "The drone use is a secondary concern."

The laws regarding wandering livestock in North Dakota are confusing, and Quick says police abused their power by trying to force Brossart to return the cows to their owner, while the tasing of Brossart was "tortuous" and akin to "water-boarding."

In its rebuttal, the state argues that Brossart resisted arrest and was warned he would be tased. Brossart's family was allegedly armed with high-powered rifles and neither party denies that Brossart told police that if they set foot on his property, they would "not [be] walking away."

State prosecutors say the drone was used only after arrest warrants had been issued and wasn't used to gather evidence needed to make the arrest, only to ensure the safety of the SWAT team sent in to raid the farm.

"Unmanned surveillance aircraft were not in use prior to or at the time Rodney Brossart is alleged to have committed the crimes with which he is charged," state prosecutor Douglas Manbeck wrote.

More at link: http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012...one-arrest

raisinbread  Wrote:

I foresee a shitload more of this in the future. Coming soon to a neighborhood near YOU.

I...doubt it. Why? Because they are too expensive to operate compared to traditional methods (at least the "fancy" ones). Kind of like the "monitoring speed from aircraft" lines they have on highways. They're not going to spend 20k for the plane maintenance to write you a 100 dollar ticket.

Though they might scale down the costs through using cheaper technology and then it's going to be a problem.

raisinbread  Wrote:

I foresee a shitload more of this in the future. Coming soon to a neighborhood near YOU.

I...doubt it. Why? Because they are too expensive to operate compared to traditional methods (at least the "fancy" ones). Kind of like the "monitoring speed from aircraft" lines they have on highways. They're not going to spend 20k for the plane maintenance to write you a 100 dollar ticket.

Though they might scale down the costs through using cheaper technology and then it's going to be a problem.