Man sentenced for drone interference with police chopper
A man who flew a drone into the path of a police helicopter during a Hollywood manhunt is giving up the device and can’t own another one for three years.
Martin Sheldon, 57, pleaded no contest Wednesday to obstructing a police officer.
In addition to forfeiting his $6,000 drone system, he must perform 30 days of community labor.
He can’t own or operate any unmanned aerial system during his three-year probation.
City prosecutors say in late August, Sheldon’s drone interfered with an LAPD helicopter that was hovering over a neighborhood searching for a man suspected of assault with a deadly weapon.
Authorities say the LAPD chopper had to make an evasive maneuver and break off the search.
