Treyarch co-founder pleads guilty to grounding firefighting plane with drone during LA wildfires
Peter Akemann - co-founder of Call Of Duty's Treyarch and recent president of The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners studio Skydance Interactive - has pleaded guilty to crashing a drone into a firefighting plane assisting with the recent LA wildfires. The crash, which grounded the plane by damaging its left wing, occurred after Akemann ignored temporary drone restrictions in order to survey the Palisades fires before losing control. Thanks, Eurogamer. For first noticing the case, I mean. I'm not blaming Eurogamer for the drone crash. Not this one, anyway.
The drone was traced back to Akemann, who has agreed to plead guilty to one count of unsafe operation of an unmanned aircraft. That's a misdemeanour that usually carries up to one year prison time, but he's "hoping to escape the prison term in exchange for 150 hours of community service in support of wildfire relief and the approximately $65,000 USD it cost to repair the plane," write Eurogamer, as part of a plea agreement.