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Crime & Safety

Cops: Hudson Valley Man Used Drone to Peep into Windows

David Beesmer, who lives in the Hudson Valley, reportedly enjoys droning so much he spent $1,300 on a personal one.

Written by Alfred Branch

A 49-year-old Lake Katrine, NY man was arrested this week for allegedly using a personal drone - a small, unmanned surveillance aircraft - to peek into the windows of an Ulster, NY medical building where patients were located.

The man, identified as David Beesmer, was charged with unlawful surveillance, according to the Daily Mail, and he took to his his Facebook page to apologize and state he made a "huge error in judgement." But he plans to keep "droning" because it is "the wave of the future."

The Smoking Gun website published a short police report about the incident, which says Beesmer was allegedly flying the drone 10-15 feet away from windows.

Beesmer says on Facebook that he took his mother to a doctor's appointment at the building, Mid Hudson Medical Group, and was so impressed by the facility that he wanted to help promote it, hence the drone footage.

From his Facebook page, "I took the footage and went straight inside to tell them who I am and that I have some excellent footage.....I was referred by the receptionist to another person who gave me the card to the owners of the building and was told I can contact them...after that while waiting for Mom another person from the facility came up and told me of her concern of privacy....I assured her my camera cannot see inside windows and went out and got the footage to show her......she agreed that you cannot see any people only the building....and told me that the footage looks great and to contact the owners....as they definitely need promotion for this brand new building only two days in use..."

Beesmer's "future" is one that asks some thorny legal questions, according to the Verdict commentary page on the Justia.com website. Some states have laws prohibiting "upskirt" videos and pictures, and now it looks like they might have to consider the same for "drone peeping." 

Last month, a Seattle woman accused a drone company of peeping into windows at her apartment building, but the company denied the charge stating that the drone was legitimately being used to film aerial footage, according to Reuters and The Raw Story website.

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