If you ever visit Hawaii, check out Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park. Why? The park’s official website says it best when it describes volcanoes as “monuments to Earth’s origin, evidence that its primordial forces are still at work.” It just makes you want to sit down and watch a Ken Burns documentary, no? Just don’t bring a drone to the prehistorical party.
In June, the NPS officially banned all “unmanned aircraft” in the parks system, including Hawaii’s own bit of paradise. Unfortunately for Travis Ray Sanders, he must have missed the memo:
The ranger asked Sanders three times to bring the drone down, and Sanders eventually brought it down, park spokeswoman Jessica Ferracane told The Associated Press Tuesday.
“The ranger identified himself and approached the individual, who refused to identify himself,” Ferracane said.
Because Sanders fled and was near the edge of the caldera rim — where there’s a 500-foot drop — the ranger deployed a Taser, she said.
Sanders later claimed that he didn’t have any ID on him, which is weird because he was visiting what amounts to a government installation. Sure, his family was with him, but if there’s anything that The Americans has taught us, it’s that we should be suspicious of this.
Meanwhile, witnesses at the scene told the AP they thought the ranger’s reaction was, erm, a bit much:
“I really didn’t see there was any severe threat going on,” [Randy] Horne, of Honokaa, Hawaii, told the AP. “In my opinion, I thought it was a severe overreaction.”
So, it seems the NPS and other witnesses are giving conflicting statements about the whole charade. Then again, if there’s anything that porn has taught us, it’s that we should be suspicious of anyone whose name sounds too much like a multi-talented plumber/pizza delivery man/doctor/teacher.
Source: Yahoo News/AP