A 35-year-old man had no idea that flying a drone in a national park was illegal and he found that out the hard way.
Videos By Rare
Travis Ray Sanders was flying his drone over a lava lake at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Saturday when he was approached by a park ranger. Sanders said that he had no idea the man was a ranger and told him that he had no ID and that he was leaving.
Sanders told Hawaii News Now that the ranger “sounded very angry, confrontational — like he wanted to fight — and I didn’t really want to stick around for it so I just told him, ‘I don’t have ID and I’m leaving.'”
As he was walking away, Sanders was tased, causing him to black out.
“I really didn’t see there was any severe threat going on. In my opinion, I thought it was a severe overreaction,” said witness Randy Horne.
Sanders was treated, handcuffed and spent a night in jail.
Park spokesman said the following in a statement:
Apparently the suspect was very unpredictable and very unruly and the national park service ranger was really unclear what his next actions would be and needed to stop this individual.
(H/T NYDN)