DETROIT (WWJ) — Federal authorities are now investigating the man who was detained Wednesday night for flying a drone into Comerica Park, causing a brief delay during the Green Day concert.
About ten minutes after their concert started, the band was in the middle of the song “Longview” when the music stopped abruptly, and band members ran off the stage and a message popped up on screens stating that the show was on pause.
The concert resumed about 10 minutes later. Detroit police officials later announced a man had been detained for flying an unauthorized drone into the stadium. DPD officers found him outside the ballpark and detained him.
DPD officials on Thursday afternoon said the investigation has been referred to the Federal Aviation Administration. No further details surrounding the incident have been released.
Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard on Thursday spoke out about the dangers posed by drones and the obstacles police face when it comes to enforcing them.
He said he and other law enforcement officials have been “trying for years to get counter-UAS (drone) authority to protect special events and the community.” But lawmakers in Washington, according to the sheriff, have not responded. He said the use they’re looking to get authorized would be “limited to scenarios where the drone is operating in violation of current federal rule or law.”
“It’s not a matter of if but when we have a tragedy. It won’t be a misguided hobbyist but an intentional attack. Just look around the world and you will see the very real threat,” Bouchard said on X , formerly Twitter.
Bouchard told WWJ’s Luke Sloan the only ones with authorization for counter-UAS action are federal agencies.
“And there’s very limited numbers of those. And so they’re really not dispersed around the country and they aren’t at most events or capable of doing anything at most events,” Bouchard said.
To date, according to Bouchard, all local incidents involving drones have all been “misguided hobbyists” or people who don’t know the rules or laws.
But the sheriff warns there could be a more sinister use for drones.
“If you look around the world, if you look at what the cartel has been doing, if you look at what’s happened in some of the Middle East attacks, if you look at what’s going on in Ukraine, they’re being utilized with terrible, terrible impact, in terms of how they can be used destructively,” Bouchard said.
“It’s not at all rocket science to weaponize these things with small payload explosive devices. So the opportunity for something very bad to happen is there. Everyone knows it’s there and they haven’t done anything about it. We’ve been chasing this authorization literally for years and Washington has not authorized it. That’s as simple as it takes, they just need to authorize it,” he said.
Bouchard said authorities were able to track people flying drones over last month’s Woodward Dream Cruise and there were 19 “serious incursions,” a number of which were flying “in blatant violation of rule and law.”
Drone operators are limited to going 400 feet above the ground and aren’t allowed to operate in certain areas.
“These were flying not only in areas they were not allowed to fly in, but they got as high as 1,600 feet. They were actually flying past and above our operating helicopters. That is a huge danger,” he said.
While authorities have not identified the man in Wednesday’s incident or said whether he will face criminal charges, an FAA spokesperson told The Detroit News it can fine drone operators “who endanger other aircraft or people on the ground" in excess of $30,000. The FAA can also suspend or revoke drone operators’ pilot certificates.
The FAA's website says drone operators who conduct unsafe or unauthorized operations face fines up to $75,000 per violation, an increase included in the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 , according to the Detroit News report.
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