Man pleads guilty after drone crashes into Space Needle
Screen capture from drone video moments before it crashed into the Space Needle.
SEATTLE — A Pasco man who crashed his drone on the roof of the Space Needle on New Year’s Eve 2016 has pleaded guilty reckless endangerment.
Cole Kelly made the guilty plea Tuesday in Seattle Municipal Court.
His jail sentence of 364 days has been suspended. He was fined $5,000, of which $4,750 was suspended.
As part of his sentence, he must forfeit his drone and not operate drones.
Pyrotechnicians were setting up fireworks on the afternoon of Dec. 31, 2016, when the drone flew over. Then it crashed.
No one was hurt, and the Space Needle wasn’t damaged.