Sacramento deputies use magnet drone to disarm suspect

Law enforcement officials in Sacramento County, California, say they successfully used a drone equipped with a magnet to disarm a barricaded suspect, a tactic they believe to be a first-of-its-kind operation in the United States. The incident, which occurred earlier this month, ended with the arrest of 30-year-old Austin Carter without injury to officers.

The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office reported that its Special Enforcement Detail (SWAT) surrounded a residence after Carter, a registered offender and parolee-at-large, ran inside and hid in a garage. Negotiators attempted to contact him repeatedly but received no response. Deputies then deployed a drone into the garage, where they found Carter lying motionless and unresponsive, likely due to drug use, with a knife clutched in his hand.

Faced with an armed but unconscious suspect, deputies improvised a solution. A SWAT member suggested attaching a powerful magnet to a small quadcopter drone. Deputy Tom Lee, a drone pilot, stated that they attached a magnet from a vehicle to the drone. He then piloted the aircraft into the garage, where the magnet adhered to the knife blade and pulled the weapon from Carter’s hand. The drone...