A 23-year-old man in Florida hid on a roof after police chased him for attempting a break-in robbery, but a drone equipped with a FLIR thermal imaging camera helped officers track the suspect. Anthony Rivers Jr. was arrested shortly after the drone spotted him, which also marked the first time Daytona Beach Police Department used a drone to arrest a suspect, according to Orlando Sentinel. WKMG News 6 featured a video interview with the police department involved in the arrest and drone footage from the actual chase:
After patrol was unable to find Rivers Jr. on foot, five drones were deployed to pinpoint the suspect’s location. Once Rivers Jr. knew police were closing in on him, he jumped on top of a neighbor’s trailer but gave up shortly after police persuaded him to come down, according to WKMG News 6.
Screenshot from WKMG News 6’s video shows drone footage of the suspect jumping on top of a trailer.
“Our drones are equipped with a night-time FLIR system, which allows us to see the night-time view, the hotspots and stuff like that,” said SGT. Time Ehrenkaufer in a WKMG News 6 interview.
