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The 29-year-old
man was taken into custody after a small aircraft he was
piloting struck the iconic building before coming to rest on the
35th floor on Thursday evening, the New York City Police
Department said.
The man asked building security personnel for his drone back
after they retrieved it, but instead they called authorities, a
police spokesman said.
No injuries and no property damage were reported, according to
police.
The local NBC affiliate in New York identified the man as Sean
Nivin Riddle. A man with the same name Tweeted that he was
filming with a drone and that it had stuck the Empire State
Building.
He faces reckless endangerment and avigation in and over the
city charges, police said.
The incident comes as U.S. government agencies and state and
local police forces seek to better identify and regulate
unauthorized drone flights due to mounting security concerns
arising from the unmanned aircraft.
A similar incident occurred in September when a New York City
public school teacher was arrested on reckless endangerment and
other charges after a drone he was operating crashed into the
stands in a stadium during a U.S. Open tennis match, according
to authorities.
(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Simon
Cameron-Moore)
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