Drone stalking charge dropped for Dakota Access protester

BISMARCK, N.D. – Charges have been dropped against a drone operator accused of stalking private security workers during a protest last year in North Dakota over the Dakota Access oil pipeline.

Myron Dewey had been scheduled for trial Wednesday on a misdemeanour stalking charge.

The Bismarck Tribune (http://bit.ly/2u7g4qL ) reports that prosecutors asked to drop the charge Monday after a judge ruled to suppress evidence taken from the drone, saying the state hadn’t proved that authorities’ seizure of the drone was legal.

Morton County sheriff’s officials said Dewey tried to capture the faces and license plates of two people working for Leighton Security in October in an attempt to post their identities online. Dewey says he was just trying to record evidence that the pipeline company was working illegally.

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Information from: Bismarck Tribune, http://www.bismarcktribune.com