Man Accused of Using Drone to Spy on Hospital Patients Is Acquitted
By Ariel Zangla, Daily Freeman
TOWN OF ULSTER >> David Beesmer was acquitted of attempted unlawful surveillance Monday in connection with his use of a drone-mounted camera to shoot photos and videos of a medical office building last year.
Beesmer, 50, of Lake Katrine, was found not guilty shortly before noon by a six-woman jury in Ulster Town Court. The jury deliberated for about an hour, during which it asked to again see footage of the four-story medical building that was shot with the drone.
This was Beesmer’s second trial on the misdemeanor count. The first ended in a mistrial on May 1 when jurors were shown evidence of his previous arrests that they were not supposed to see.
Following Monday’s verdict, Beesmer said he was relieved the case finally was over and that his innocence had been proven.
“My biggest fear was that the jury would vote on emotion rather than the letter of the law,” Beesmer said. He said he always knew he was not guilty and that the evidence in the case showed his drone could not see into the windows of the medical building.
Beesmer was arrested by state police on July 15, 2014, after taking photos and video footage of the new Mid-Hudson Medical Group building on U.S. Route 9W in the town of Ulster by flying his remote-controlled drone outside the structure. He testified on Thursday, the first day of his two-day trial, that he brought his mother to a doctor’s appointment at the building that day and, while waiting for her, flew his drone from the parking lot to take videos and photos of the facade of the structure.
In his closing argument to the jury, defense attorney Eric Schneider said the case against Beesmer was a “disgrace” and that the state police investigator who arrested Beesmer did not know the specifics of the unlawful surveillance statute under which the arrest was made.
“You don’t have to like my client,” Schneider said to the jurors. “You don’t have to like what he did.” But, he said, the prosecution failed to meet its burden of proof and there were too many reasonable doubts for Beesmer to be convicted.
Schneider said those doubts included the fact that Beesmer was not trying to hide what he was doing and went into the medical building after using the drone to offer his footage to the staff. Schneider also said the footage supported the claim of innocence because it showed the windows of the building were tinted and could not be seen through with the device’s camera.
Testifying Thursday, Beesmer said his drone’s camera does not have a zoom lens and he knew it would not be able to see into the building’s examining rooms.
Footage shot by the drone was shown in court Thursday as the defense presented its case. The footage showed the entire front exterior of the medical building, as well as its sign, but nothing of the interior.
Beesmer said he bought the drone less than a week before for $1,500 to enhance the music videos he makes for his business, Front Row Dave Productions. The drone, which had been seized as evidence in the case, was returned to Beesmer after he was acquitted Monday.
Ulster County Assistant District Attorney Thomas Colonna said in his closing argument Monday that when a patient is in a medical examination room, he or she has a heightened expectation of privacy.
Colonna also questioned who would think that filming a medical building from 10 feet away was “no big deal.”
Colonna said there was no way Beesmer could have known from standing on the ground that his drone would not be able to see through the fourth-floor windows of the building. He also said Beesmer announcing what he had done after filming the building does not excuse the fact he did not have permission ahead of time.
“This is not innocent videography,” Colonna said. “This is video voyeurism.”
The prosecution on Thursday called staff members from the medical building, including Office Manager Rene Christiano who reported the incident to state police. She said after becoming aware of the drone, she asked Beesmer to show her the footage he had taken, which he did. Christiano said she told him she had concerns about the privacy of patients in the exam rooms outside which the drone flew.
Christina Plonski and Cynthia Pascaretti, who both work in the building, testified they were with patients when they saw the drone flying outside of the exam rooms. They both said the safety and well-being of their patients are a priority, as is patient privacy.
The incident captured national headlines amid the debate about how to regulate similar unmanned aircraft. Schneider has said this is the first prosecution in United States history for unlawful surveillance using a drone.
Schneider said technology has evolved but the law has not followed suit and he is confident this case will set a legal precedent.
Colonna referred questions about the verdict to Ulster County District Attorney Holley Carnright, who said: “I don’t question the jury’s verdict but do think it’s a situation that warrants monitoring.”
Carnright, like Schneider, said state laws have not kept up with the available technology and the federal government, which monitors the use of the airspaces, has not yet posted regulations regarding the use of drones. Carnright said that leaves it up to local prosecutors to determine if certain uses violate the Penal Law.
Carnright said his office will continue to investigate any complaints regarding drones used to spy on people.
