A drone fell from the skies and crashed into a New Jersey homeowner’s backyard Thursday night, leading the town’s mayor to drive to the scene and inspect the damage himself.
The plane crashed in a residential section of Pequannock Township, Morris County, approximately 8:45 p.m. Thursday, according to police and dispatch recordings.
According to the Pequannock Police Department, the craft was “a hobby or toy type of drone” rather than a huge commercial or military grade drone.
It comes after New Jersey cops issued a warning about alleged “copycats.”
“We believe it started as some type of Picatinny Arsenal base.
“This began as a surveillance drill or operation, but when it went viral online, it became a copycat situation,” one Garden State police chief speculated.
The US Army’s Armament Research, Development, and Engineering Center is located at the Picatinny Arsenal and is one of several locations where mysterious drone sightings have been reported, raising concerns.
As a highly guarded institution that develops and tests new bombs, firearms, ammo, and warfare technologies for all branches of the military, it is vulnerable to espionage by foreign opponents.
When The Post arrived at the crash site Thursday night, the resident was taking out garbage cans and declined to comment.
However, as panic pervades the state, reports of one crashing into a homeowner’s backyard prompted the mayor to race to the site.
Ryan Herd, the mayor of Pequannock, arrived in a Ford Econoline work van to inspect the crash scene.
Herd told The Post that “it is definitely not” one of the big, car-sized drones that have reportedly been floating overhead.
He additionally stated that he is “absolutely” worried since “nobody knows whose drones are flying over us and what they’re flying over us for and where they’re taking off and landing.”
“Drones are flying over our homes, which are private property. “My family is here,” he said.
The Morris County Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the event.
Meanwhile, less than an hour later, another complaint surfaced of a crashed drone colliding with a powerline in adjacent Randolph Township.
The Morris County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that the report was unfounded.
In a follow-up phone call Friday morning, Herd warned people not to chase, shoot at, or try to grab any of the huge drones.
“We can’t be putting up Class 1 and Class 2 drones to track these drones. God forbid anything happens and it collides with the big drone, and the big drone crashes into a house and kills six people — that’s going to be an issue,” he explained.
“We can’t be putting up Class 1 and Class 2 drones to track these drones. God forbid anything happens and it collides with the big drone, and the big drone crashes into a house and kills six people — that’s going to be an issue,” he explained.
According to local officials, many sightings further afield may be caused by citizen copycats flying their own drones or individuals mistaking planes, helicopters, or satellites for UFOs.
Following complaints of drone activity near Morris County, New Jersey, the Federal Aviation Administration announced temporary limits on drone flights above President-elect Donald Trump’s Bedminster golf course and Picatinny Arsenal Military Base.
According to the FAA, the bans were implemented in response to requests from “federal security partners.”
According to White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, government investigators have been unable to validate any of the more than 3,000 allegations of car-sized drones scanning the nighttime sky in recent weeks.
Pentagon officials have stated that they do not believe the drones are a foreign asset.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy stated earlier this week that the planes are “very sophisticated,” saying that “the minute you get your eyes on them, they go dark,” while assuring locals that the devices pose no threat to public safety.
Murphy stated that New Jerseyans should not blast them out of the sky, but rather allow federal authorities to take them down for research, according to NJ.com.
