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New York teacher charged with 'reckless endangerment' after US Open drone crash

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By Gillian West, Social media manager

September 6, 2015 | 1 min read

A 26-year-old teacher from New York has been arrested for flying and crashing a drone into the empty seats at the US Open on Thursday evening (3 September).

Speaking to the press, 26th-seed Flavia Pennetta, who was playing at the time, said she feared the worst when she spotted the drone.

"With everything going on in the world…I thought 'OK, it's over.' That's how things happen," she said, adding it wasn't made clear to the umpire or US Open officials that the object was a drone.

Tennis officials say no-one was injured as the drone broke into pieces upon landing, disrupting play as emergency services investigated.

"If there had been spectators, it would have hit them and done a lot of damage," said Pennetta, as the 10,000 capacity stadium was only partially full at the time.

Daniel Verley has been charged with reckless endangerment and operating a drone in a public park outside of a prescribed area following the incident at the Louis Armstrong Stadium.

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