Man Arrested With Help of UAV is Jailed

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The first man arrested in the U.S with the assistance of a UAV was sent to prison.

Rodney Brossart was sentenced to three years in prison, of which all but six months was suspended, for a June 2011 incident in which police attempted to arrest him over his failure to return three cows from a neighboring farm that had strayed on to his property.

An armed standoff between Brossart, his three sons and a SWAT team then ensued on Brossart’s property, which only ended after father and sons were located by a border-surveillance Predator borrowed from Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), which enabled local police to safely apprehend them, according to U.S. News and World Report.

iHLS – Israel Homeland Security

The arrest created controversy after Rodney Brossart’s attorney claimed that authorities had no legal right to use the drone to aid in his capture.

Unmanned drones have been used for years by the US Military in foreign countries including Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen. They’re also used for surveillance on the border between Mexico and the US. But Americans can expect drones to pop up soon in several American cities.