Man charged in drone incident that halted Chiefs-Ravens AFC championship game
A Pennsylvania man has been charged with illegally flying a drone over M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore during the AFC championship game between the Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs.
Television viewers may remember CBS Sports play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz mentioning the referees taking "an administrative timeout" during the first quarter of the Jan. 28 game.
"It was a drone apparently that was interfering too close to the play. It was not ours, we’re told," Nantz said.
According to FBI charging documents, Maryland State Police tracked the drone from the stadium to its landing spot at a house about a half-mile away. There, investigators found a man dressed in a Ravens jersey identified as Matthew Herbert, 44, of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, who said he had driven from there to a friend's house near the stadium.
Herbert told investigators he controlled the drone from his smartphone, taking six photos and possibly a video during its two-minute flight.
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As is the case before any event where more than 30,000 people will be present, the Federal Aviation Administration had issued a temporary flight restriction in a three-mile radius around the stadium. The restrictions last from an hour before kickoff until an hour after the end of the game.
Herbert faces a maximum sentence of three years for knowingly operating an unregistered drone and and additional year for operating a drone in a restricted airspace.