F.A.A. investigating the use of a camera equipped drone at a fatality accident by an employee of a Connecticut TV station.

Modified Date: 
Wed, 09/24/2014 - 11:21am
Accident Date: 
Friday, January 31, 2014

FAA investigating drone over fatal Connecticut crash.

The federal government is investigating the use of a drone near a fatal car crash in Connecticut.

FAA investigating report of drone over Conn. wreck.

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the use of a drone aircraft that was reported last weekend at the scene of a Hartford car crash.

Drone Use By WFSB Employee At Fatal Crash Under Investigation.

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating whether a WFSB employee violated agency regulations when he flew a drone over the scene of a fatal car crash on Feb. 1.

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating whether a WFSB TV station employee violated agency regulations when he flew a drone over the scene of a fatal car crash on Feb. 1.

An FAA spokesman said the agency is not yet releasing details about its investigation.

Hartford police say that use of the drone by the WFSB employee violated an FAA regulation that prohibits the use of drones for commercial purposes.

Klarn DePalma, WFSB vice president and general manager, said the station doesn't own or use drones.

"The person identified in the police report is a temporary, on-call employee of WFSB. However, he was not working for the station on the day of the incident. He was not assigned to shoot video of the crime scene by WFSB and has never been compensated for any drone video," DePalma said.

Police officers and supervisors at the scene of the crash on the 2000 block of Main Street noticed the drone, which was equipped with a camera, hovering over the scene, according to an incident report.

The person operating it, Pedro Rivera, 29, told the officers that he works for WFSB, but was not working that day and that the drone was his personal property. He also said that he feeds video back to WFSB, the report says.

The police sergeant who wrote the report expressed concern that flying a drone over the scene might compromise the integrity of the scene and the privacy of the victim's body.

"The body was covered by a blanket and not readily visible in this case, but that may not always be the case," Sgt. Edward Yergeau wrote in the report.

Type: Car Accident
People Involved: 
Roadway: 
Main Street

Add new comment

To prevent automated s-p-a-m submissions leave this field empty.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
3 + 2 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.