Two Police Drones Save a Woman’s Life in Virginia

A new use of the technology in Virginia offers a reminder that there are often alternatives to confrontation.

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Occasionally, desperate people decide to provoke their own death by waving a gun or knife at a police officer, knowing law enforcement is trained to shoot if their life is threatened. This is what happened when a 57-year-old woman drove from Cocoa Beach, Florida, all the way to Stafford County, Virginia. She pulled into a Walmart parking lot, backed her sedan up against a 16-wheeler cab with a sleeping trucker inside, and took out a revolver. She kept yelling profanities and telling police officers to shoot her. Cops who are in situations like this are often traumatized. Some recall doing so as the “worst moments in their careers or even their lives,” writes The Atlantic. But in the instance of the Florida woman, she was not killed. Police flew two drones to monitor the woman from a safe distance and avoid putting officers in direct confrontation. The airborne cameras allowed authorities a close-up view of the woman and her actions. This information helped the police safely and successfully evacuate the trucker from his cab and eventually get an armored vehicle close enough to fill the woman’s car with pepper spray so they could disarm and arrest her.

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