Police drone assists man convicted in Silver Spring stabbing

SILVER BOW – A. Montgomery County This week, a jury found 45-year-old Jovan Ali guilty of second-degree assault. Authorities said a conviction could not have been obtained without the assistance of the police drone.

This all stems from an incident that occurred last April.

Drone footage shows Ali stabbing a victim at the intersection of Georgia and Sligo Avenues in Silver Spring.

The drone then followed Ali as he walked away from the scene. The footage shows police catching him a few minutes later and also helping the victim, who authorities said required surgery but survived.

“This is the first case in Montgomery County history where you have convicted a person in front of a jury based almost solely on drone footage,” said Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy.

The county’s Drone as First Responder program sends drones to active scenes after McCarthy said someone saw two men arguing and called police.

When asked if there would have been a conviction in this case without the drone footage, McCarthy said “absolutely not.”

“We did not search for the victim in this case. We built this case based on drone footage and the rapid response of the Montgomery County Police Department.”

Police drones have become a hot topic across the region in recent years, with some people expressing privacy concerns.

“A lot of people want to have the freedom to not feel like they’re constantly being watched and observed,” a Montgomery County resident told FOX 5 in July.

But McCarthy now believes attitudes towards the program have changed.

“Let me tell you,” McCarthy said Friday, “those privacy concerns are over because they see how this works, how it makes them safer.”

In this context, Montgomery County’s drone program is expanding. It is currently operating in Silver Spring and Wheaton, and is expected to open soon in Gaithersburg and Bethesda.