A 17-year-old boy who filmed a woman hitting him after he flew a drone at a Connecticut beach in May is raising money for a civil suit against his alleged attacker.
Andrea Mears, 23, was charged with assault after police saw a video in which she appears to attack Austin Haughwout. She faces up to a year in jail if convicted, according to Forbes.
In the video, which was taken on the teen's iPhone and later went viral on Reddit, Mears accuses Haughwout of taking pictures of people with his quadcopter drone.
"That's what you get, you little pervert!" Mears yelled as she hit him.
Haughwout released video from the drone taken just prior to the attack. It shows aerial footage of Hammonasset beach and the surrounding woods -- public areas. No one person appears to be targeted for surveillance.
Haughwout says he launched a crowdfunding campaign for the suit after supporters encouraged him. On the Indiegogo page for the campaign he explains that he's set a goal of $15,000 to cover legal expenses, but will donate whatever he doesn't use to charity.
He writes:
After the conclusion of the legal proceedings, I will donate whatever amount I have related to this, up to the amount received from crowd-source funding, to a charity/non-profit group or distributed among more than one charity/non-profit groups that support civil rights and or bringing justice to those wronged by the actions of others.
He also released unedited footage of his confrontation with Mears, which can be seen above.
Mears told WPTV that Haughwout hit her in the back of the head and grabbed her hair while the camera was pointed away, a claim which Haughwout denies.
"She was the one that attacked me as you can see in the video. She took a swing at me and I began falling to the ground," he told the station.
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