A drone dropped a mysterious glowing object over the Staten Island area, and the NYPD took the matter seriously and flew over the area four times, according to a former NYPD detective who reported the strange sight.
The disturbing scene happened around 6:15 a.m. on Dec. 14, as John Scott was smoking his morning cigarette, he told the Post.
“I said it was an object with a little white light,” said 59, who was sitting on the porch of his Rossville home when the rectangular drone, 7 feet long and 2 feet wide, just appeared above the treetops in the deep woods. Scott said. across the street.
Scott, who retired from the NYPD in 2006, said the drone had flashing white, red and green lights and was moving slowly, “less than 20 miles per hour.”
Scott said everything that fell from the drone “had a white light on it” and disappeared quickly.
“It fell off the drone and went straight towards the ground at a very high speed,” Scott explained. “It immediately fell down and I couldn't see it.”
The large drone then briefly hovered over his home, removing “just 20 feet” of his roof before disappearing into the distance.
“Judging by its size, we believe it is a military drone,” Scott told the Post. “It wasn't a toy.”
Scott called 911 to report the falling object, and within 15 minutes the NYPD was on the scene, but they didn't know what to do about the problem. “They said there's really no procedure for this.”
Scott said an NYPD helicopter arrived shortly after and made four passes over the forest.
The falling object spotted by Scott adds further mystery to recent drone sightings over New Jersey and New York, which federal authorities have downplayed. Alarming drone sightings in both states began more than a month ago.
The federal government maintains that the drone is actually a misidentified manned aircraft similar to a helicopter or a Cessna single-engine plane.
They also said they pose no threat to people on the ground.
The Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday temporarily restricted drone flights in 21 cities in New Jersey and another 30 cities in New York state.
“I was more angry than anything because the government was lying to me,” Scott said. “I was angry. They're telling people they didn't see a drone in the sky and making excuses for it. That made me angry.”
Scott spent 90 minutes in a “determined” “exhaustive search” of the woods trying to find the fallen object, but found scratches on his leg, several golf balls and “the kids lost it.” He said all he found was “a bunch of baseballs.”
Scott said the drones that littered the night sky may have been busy scouring the area looking for potential threats. He said he believes the introduction of the FAA's restrictive measures is a good sign.
“Maybe they achieved their goal,” Scott wondered. “We hope that this is the case and that whatever the threat is, it will be addressed now.”
Arthur Erickson, CEO of drone manufacturer Hylio, has two theories about what Scott witnessed.
“I think we can safely rule out the possibility that what was dropped was a weapon or something particularly dangerous,” Erickson said, noting that the FAA rarely authorizes a payload to be dropped.
“I think this was some kind of scientific instrument, like an object like a weather balloon that was dropped into the bay to measure something,” Erickson added. “It could have just been a 'dummy' payload to simulate some kind of mission. Perhaps it could be a soft, light object to measure the accuracy of the fall. ”
He said federal authorities are “simulating how an adversary might try to drop something dangerous from a drone, and we're just observing how it physically plays out.” He said that this may be the case.
