Drone Crashes, Hits Spectators at Marblehead Memorial Day Parade

Photo credit: Sean Lorenz, @seanlorenz. Caption: The drone that crashed into the crowd Monday in Marblehead is visible in the upper right-hand corner of the photo.

One minute you’re watching the Memorial Day parade, the next you’re the victim of a falling object.

It’s what happened to two individuals Monday morning in Marblehead when a drone crashed into a crowd watching the Memorial Day parade along Pleasant Street, according to a Marblehead police report.

A witness told police that he had spotted the drone flying over the parade, and then saw the object strike a building at 1 Pleasant St., before falling to the ground and striking two people on the way down. One man, Scot Yount, sustained a small cut to the back of his neck and woman standing nearby was struck on the shoulder when the drone ricocheted off Yount.

Yount told WBZ-TV that he had been holding his 1-year-old daughter just minutes earlier.

“That guy (drone operator) has to think about where he flies the thing and what could have happened if he hit my daughter,” Yount told WBZ-TV. “I’d be pretty upset.”

As it was, Yount and the woman were examined by responding paramedics, but refused treatment, the report notes. Yount was sporting a bandage over the cut when he spoke with WBZ-TV Monday afternoon.

The drone operator was “completely apologetic/embarrassed,” the police report describes. He told police he had flown the drone many times without any negative experiences, but that using it to videotape the parade was “poor judgement” and he wouldn’t fly it over Marblehead again.

Marblehead Police Chief Bob Picariello said drone calls are not common in town, and there are no local regulations governing their use. He told WBZ-TV that no charges would be filed in the incident.