Driver Who Photographed Police Drone Creeping On Her Car Ticketed For Distracted Driving

Generally speaking, you shouldn't use your phone while you're driving. It's dangerous and bad, and the U.S. especially would be much better off if people stopped doing texting while driving. Unfortunately for those in charge of enforcing anti-distracted driving laws, that's a lot easier said than done. But now, CBC News reports one Canadian police department is facing pushback after it used drones to find distracted drivers, successfully distracted them, and then tried to fine one woman $615 for photographing the drone so she could report its operator's creepy behavior to the authorities.

According to CBC News, Laurie Esseltine was stopped at a traffic light in Kingston, Ontario, when she noticed a drone checking out her vehicle. That understandably freaked her out, especially since she claimed she couldn't see anyone operating the drone nearby, so she did the completely logical thing and took two photos, then waited for the light to turn green. "My first thought was to take a picture of this and report it," she told CBC News. "It was frightening ... and then it was like, 'What are they doing? You can't do that.' That was my second reaction."

Before Esseltine could report the drone harassment, though, a cop pulled her over and tried to hand out a $615 fine for using her phone while driving, along with "three demerit points and the possibility of a three-day licence suspension." Had she technically used her phone inside a car she was driving? Sure, but would she have touched her phone if the cops hadn't been creeping on her with a drone at a traffic light? I'm going to guess probably not. 

As "an avid motorcyclist" who once "almost lost her life" when a driver on their phone nearly hit her, Esseltine told CBC News she has personal experience with the dangers of distracted driving, but she pushed back against the cops' decision to use drones. The way she sees it, they conducted a "police sting" that basically amounts to entrapment. As Esseltine put it, "What better way to catch a distracted driver [than] by providing the distraction?"

Thankfully, it appears the courts don't appear to be going along with the Kingston Police using drones to create more distracted drivers, because it dropped Esseltine's charges last Monday. She's also at least the second driver to see their charges dropped following public pushback among the 20 drivers who were cited. When CBC News contacted municipal prosecutor Rikki Voskamp for a statement, however, she declined to comment and did not respond to a follow-up request. 

According to the Kingston Police, the operation that nabbed Esseltine was the first time they'd used drones for distracted driving enforcement, and they don't plan to ever try that again. Allegedly, at least. Of course, it also doesn't hurt that the Canadian Constitution Foundation, a nonprofit focused on preserving constitutional rights, got involved and chose to represent a different driver who was cited for photographing the police drone. 

Josh Dehaas, the CCF's litigation director, called the operation a "violation of the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures under Section Eight of the Charter" and managed to get that driver's charges dropped, too. Just like with Esseltine's case, though, prosecutors remained silent on why they dropped the charges. "They must have decided that it wasn't in the public interest to pursue, and we think that it's quite likely that's because they understood that this was a Charter violation," Dehaas told CBC News.