A federal judge on Wednesday found a 36-year-old Pahoa man who flew a quadricopter drone in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park last April guilty of violating a lawful order of a National Park Service ranger and sentenced him to pay a $1,000 fine.
A federal judge on Wednesday found a 36-year-old Pahoa man who flew a quadricopter drone in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park last April guilty of violating a lawful order of a National Park Service ranger and sentenced him to pay a $1,000 fine.
The sentence was handed down to Travis R. Sanders by U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard L. Puglisi after a two-day non-jury trial in Hilo.
U.S. Attorney Florence T. Nakakuni said Sanders was convicted of disobeying a lawful order of a government employee, a federal Class B misdemeanor.
On the evening of April 25, Sanders was flying a drone over a Saturday-evening crowd gathered by Jaggar Museum to view a rising lava lake in Halema‘uma‘u crater, although it is illegal to fly a drone in a national park.
A park ranger identified himself as a law enforcement officer and ordered Sanders to bring down the drone. Sanders initially refused, then eventually landed the drone. After Sanders refused to identify himself upon request of the ranger, the ranger attempted to place Sanders in custody and Sanders fled.
The ranger ordered Sanders to stop, but Sanders refused. The ranger then used his Taser to apprehend Sanders and took him into custody.
There were dozens of witnesses to the event, the aftermath of which was captured on video by at least one bystander.
Why the hell did you run?” the ranger could be heard asking Sanders.
“Why the hell did you shoot me with a stun gun because I flew a remote-controlled helicopter?” Sanders replied.
The judge ruled Sanders heard and understood the ranger’s order to stop, that the order was lawful and that Sanders willfully disobeyed the order.
Puglisi further found that the Ranger’s conduct, including deploying the Taser, was “entirely justified.”
Sanders wasn’t convicted of two other counts related to disobeying the orders to land the drone and to identify himself because he eventually complied with those orders.
In addition to having to pay the fine, which he’ll have a year to do, Sanders is banned from the park for one year.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.