This Guy Was Detained In China For Flying A GoPro-Wielding Drone Over Government Buildings
Trey Ratcliff had an interesting run-in with the police during his recent trip to China. And it was all because of a quadcopter and a GoPro.
Ratcliff decided that he was going to fly the drone around China to get some cool footage on the GoPro. But he flew the drone a bit too far when he set it over the inner "Forbidden City" in Beijing.
He was filming over Beihai Park, which happens to be extremely close to government intelligence buildings. A police officer discovered Ratcliff's drone and escorted him to a nearby detention center.
Ratcliff eventually managed to explain that he was just a photographer and wasn't trying to get top secret footage. The police officers returned the quadcopter and made Ratcliff promise not to film in the first or second ring of Beijing. Ratcliff left freely, but other officers later decided to take the quadcopter back until he had left the country.
Nonetheless Ratcliff returned to his homeland New Zealand safe and sound with quadcopter and GoPro in hand.
You can read more about Ratcliff's experiences on his blog.
Although Ratcliff might be the first person to get in trouble with Chinese police specifically, he is joining a growing group of people who have gotten in trouble with the law for GoPro-related reasons.
One man in South Carolina was arrested after sharing a GoPro video of himself evading police on a motorcycle. Then there was the woman who was arrested for assaulting a teenager she claimed was recording people on a beach with a GoPro on a quadcopter.
Check out some footage Ratcliff captured in the video below: