Late this afternoon, the FDNY responded to a report of an injured person on the rooftop of the abandoned 535 E. 12th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.
Here's information pieced together from a resident on the block based on witness accounts...
A woman apparently created a rope made of sheets to lower herself from No. 531-33 to retrieve her drone on the rooftop below.
The sheet rope didn't hold, and she fell to the adjacent roof. One person on the scene said that she was unconscious but OK.
Another reader shared this photo ... showing a police officer holding the drone...
Updated 11/5
Gothamist has more details on the incident.
Last night, our correspondent first identified the victim as a man... an NYPD sergeant at the scene last night said the person was a woman. This morning, however, an NYPD spokesperson said that the person is a man.
The man, who is in his 50s, was taken to Bellevue Hospital.
Per Gothamist:
Due to the complexity of the fall, the FDNY and NYPD's ESU had to perform a high-angle rescue utilizing an FDNY tower ladder. The building where the victim fell, 535 East 12th, is an abandoned building and access was limited due to security measures taken to secure that building from squatters.
The drone, a Yuneec Typhoon Hexacopter, costs nearly $1,000, per Gothamist.
Updated 11/6
The Post reports today that the victim, identified as Cris Piedrahita, 55, remains in critical condition.
Omg who fell??
ReplyDeleteDarwin's Law at work
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 7:26pm, I think you meant to say isaac newton's law at work (gravity). Unless, you're referring to Darwin's theory of evolution by natural section, which would then mean this idiot woman is being taken out of the gene pool.
Deletedumb n dumber
ReplyDeleteI hope she is okay, and I hope others realize it isn't worth it to put yourself in a dangerous situation to retrieve a drone or any other item--even if it is expensive.
ReplyDeleteSo she was planning to climb back up the sheet rope with the drone?
ReplyDeleteIs it legal to fly a drone in the city? I would think if this thing crashed on a roof, it could have easily crashed into a person walking down the street.
ReplyDeleteGJ: She may have been planning on flying herself out of there.
ReplyDeleteTip: If you're using the same method of repelling that was used to escape Alcatraz you're probably taking things further then they were intended to go.
It was only a matter of time before something happened. It was flying very high the past couple of weeks - not too much lower than some of the helicopters that are always around.
ReplyDeleteHow dumb can you get? Is flying a drone in the city legal? That is an unoccupied building,she was lucky someone found her. Tresspassing for sure. Who was she spying on?
ReplyDeleteI hope she is okay.
ReplyDeleteThe rules about drone use in NYC are murky.
I found this on Quora
New York has many areas where drones are banned, due to many surrounding airports and the busy airspace with aircraft that this creates. Below is a map courtesy of Mapbox that shows where you can and cannot fly your drone in New York City. The red is all the areas drones cannot be flown.
https://www.quora.com/Where-can-people-fly-drones-legally-in-NYC
wnyc
Gregory McNeal, a law professor at Pepperdine University School of Law and frequent contributor about drones for Forbes, says he’s dug through the New York City ordinances and hasn't found any specific language outlawing drones. But if the cops think you’re creating a public risk by flying your drone, you could be hit with a Reckless Endangerment charge, which can carry a penalty of up to seven years in prison. You may win your case if you challenge it in court, but you’d rack up lots of legal fees.
Sounds like Reckless Endangerment to me.
ReplyDelete7:35 AM: Why would it be reckless endangerment unless you operating the drone in a particularly dangerous manner? If drones are not specifically illegal in the city, I don't think the police or prosecutors can decide that using it in the city is in itself reckless.
ReplyDeleteI am going to make a generalization. If this person is willing and stupid enough to pay whatever amount to live there, say 2000, then it's not a surprise that this person would repel down a building to get some stupid annoying toy.
ReplyDeletePeople are getting cartoonishly dumber or maybe it's just a warped sense of invincibility or self-worth. This is something Beavis or Butthead would do.
This is messed up and sad. I live in building next door to where this person flys this drone. You know what else is messed up, is hearing a drone buzz outside your window at night. Im glad we know who is has been flying it, and get some peice of mind from it not filming people in their apartments in the mean time.
ReplyDeleteDrone aside, trying to rappel down onto the roof of an empty building is reckless, and it endangered the people who performed the rescue.
ReplyDeleteSome more details about this incident. A neighbor of mine living ave Avenue B whose windows face west in sight of this building on 12th street just happened to glance out of his window to see this person fall from the bed sheet she was using as a makeshift rope. If he had not looked that way at that very moment and more importantly called 911 my drone loving neighbor may not have been rescued in time. In fact unless someone from 331-333 visited the roof of that building and then only if they noticed the sheet tied to the railing and then looked over the roof line to the next building would this woman had been noticed lying there where she could have remained for days. She was alive but not conscious when the fire department brought her down to the ambulance. Most of us can agree this was not a sensible thing to do for a product that could be replaced but it is most likely she was not in a reasonable state of mind to attempt her drone rescue. I am glad she was not killed by the fall and I truly hope she does not suffer and long tern injuries.
ReplyDeleteIf she can afford a thousand bucks for a drone then she should be given the bill for what it cost FDNY and ESU to rescue her. That's gonna cost a bucket of money, and I'd rather my tax dollars not be used to pay for her stupidity.
ReplyDeleteThere was confusion to her gender at the scene, but she is a transsexual woman, according to her neighbors.
ReplyDelete@Gojira. If he could afford a thousand dollar drone he could also afford to buy a nice rope ladder to climb down there safely. For 50 bucks you can get a First Alert 3 story escape ladder. Better yet, he should have paid some kid twenty bucks to go get the drone. What a waste of perfectly good sheets--I bet they were a high thread count too, 100% Egyptian cotton. What a waste.
ReplyDelete@Gojira
ReplyDeleteI feel sorry for this woman, she was most likely not in the right state of mind (I am trying to be discreet). The men and women of the NY Police and FDNY are here to help anyone in need, this woman needs help......
Have to agree w Gojira on this one. Nothing I read anywhere suggested this lady was not in her right state of mind, and I really don't see why I should have to pay for someone else's stupidity What else can you call it?
ReplyDelete@3:21 PM
ReplyDeleteIf you knew her you might think differently. I've hinted here but people have rushed to condemn her actions without all the facts.
Hi T :)
Delete'Transsexual Droning"...............That's a great name for a band. I live a few doors up from where this happened, and my friends and neighbors are all wishing her well.
ReplyDelete