Drone Crashes, Nearly Hits Spectator in Stadium During Major League Baseball Game

Drone Crashes, Nearly Hits Spectator in Stadium During Major League Baseball Game

During Sunday's baseball game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres at Petco Field in San Diego, a drone was seen flying inside the stadium, before it eventually crashed in the upper rows of seating, almost striking a man sitting there.

During the seventh inning, a GoPro Karma was spotted hovering in the stadium, before it eventually flew over the Padres dugout and crashed into an empty seat, flinging bits of debris from one of the propellers into a spectator's lap, who was unhurt. 

Major League Baseball has announced that they are aware of the incident and working with local authorities. In all likelihood, the drone originated outside of the park and was flown over it. It's of course strictly prohibited to fly a drone over a stadium during a major sporting event and generally inadvisable to do so when there's not an event. As you can see in the video, the spectator was surprised by the crash and could have easily been struck in the face had the drone been in a slightly different position. Such crashes do a lot of damage to the public's perceptions of drones and reinforce why the safety regulations are in place. 

[via ESPN]

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

Log in or register to post comments
9 Comments

Of course its a Gopro karma

The stadium is also within a mile from the airport.

once again irresponsible drone owner makes the rest of us look like idiots.

Like pretty much everything in life, the actions of the few affect the majority. Pretty soon, you won't be able to fly a drone anywhere.

Wow! Something nearly happened.

Don't write it off buddy. People are keeping score. When the shit hits the fan it'll all come back in one giant legislation.

I hope he gets to keep the Hero 5

This is why we have regulation. People just refuse to grow up and act responsibly.

"in a brilliant marketing move by DJI...." haha weren't Karmas recalled?