A drone flew into a large Ferris wheel near Seattle's downtown waterfront on Wednesday, and police are now investigating whether it was a kamikaze-like attack, a stunt gone awry, or what.
"At this point, we don’t know who was operating it," said police spokesman Mark Jamieson,
according to The Seattle Times. "No one came forward while we were investigating; security didn’t have any information when we were there."
According to NBC News, the drone collision occurred around 4:45 p.m. After hitting the 175-foot-tall Ferris wheel, the drone crashed through a plastic patio table.
"I can't figure out why somebody would fly a drone so close to other human beings," Michael Fuqua, who works at the Great Wheel,
told NBC affiliate KING5. "I don't get it. I just don't understand it."
"Just thank goodness no one was on the deck and no one was hurt," said Great Wheel security manager Wayman Earls III. "It looked like they may have been trying to fly the drone through the spokes and careened off of there. From that height, anything it landed on was going to have some damage."
The drone, now in police possession, appears to be a quadcopter-style device.
Jamieson said that a drone operator was charged with reckless endangerment this summer after allegedly hitting a building with a drone, whereupon it fell onto the head of a 25-year-old woman at the Pride Parade.
Previous to that, in 2013, the Seattle police department discontinued a plan to use drones equipped with cameras after citizens expressed concerns about their privacy.
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