A federal judge has ordered a Connecticut father and son to testify under oath at depositions and hand over documents about drones shown in YouTube videos firing a gun and deploying a flame thrower in their backyard.
(FOX)- Judge Jeffrey Meyer in New Haven ruled Monday in the case of 19-year-old Austin Haughwout of Clinton and his father, Bret Haughwout, who both have refused to comply with Federal Aviation Administration subpoenas seeking their testimony and documents. The judge ordered them to comply within 30 days.
“Because I conclude that the FAA has a legitimate purpose for its subpoenas and that the subpoenas are otherwise appropriate in scope, I will grant the petition,” Meyer ruled.
Austin Haughwout uploaded the videos to his YouTube channel last year. One video, viewed nearly 3.8 million times, shows a flying drone equipped with a handgun firing rounds. Another video, viewed nearly 600,000 times, shows a flying drone with a flamethrower lighting up a spit-roasting Thanksgiving turkey.
Federal prosecutors, on behalf of the FAA, argued the subpoenas are part of a legitimate investigation into potential violations of FAA regulations banning people from operating “aircraft” in a reckless manner.
The Haughwouts’ lawyer, Mario Cerame, told the judge that the subpoenas violate their constitutional right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures and questioned the agency’s authority to regulate recreational drones.