A Federal Way woman recently filed a police report alleging her neighbor of harassing her with his drone, a remote controlled pilotless aircraft.

Barbara J. Pintler, 54, filed her most recent complaint with the Federal Way Police Department on Dec. 7 but she said he’s been flying it near her window since March.

“My three daughters got together and two were at my house for the weekend and they were sitting on the couch and they see lights out our window, over by our neighbor’s house,” Pintler said in an interview. “It hovered for 10 or more seconds and took off. We called the police and the [Federal Aviation Administration] but they couldn’t do anything about it.”

Pintler lives in a neighborhood overlooking Redondo and Poverty Bay.

She found out who was in control of the drone in June when it crashed into a nearby pine tree. It was her neighbor, a 44-year-old man who works from home, she said.

The Mirror attempted to contact the man but he could not be reached.

The drone was an annoyance to her, her husband and another neighboring couple, Pintler said, but it became serious when the man’s girlfriend allegedly assaulted her.

“On Aug. 16, I was drinking a glass of wine on my deck with my neighbors before the Seahawks game and a drone came up and sat there, just watching us,” she said.

Frustrated, Pintler walked to the man’s house, just a few doors down a hill, and rang the doorbell.

She said the door “came flying open” and he started screaming that they were within the Federal Aviation Administration’s regulations and shut the door again.

“Then the door opens again and his girlfriend is screaming profanities,” she said. “It was like she had spittle coming out of her mouth.”

Pintler said the woman charged at her “full force,” pushing her off their porch.

“I yelled, ‘Oh my god,’” she said. “That’s when my husband heard and saw me bleeding, walking up the hill. Now I have a bad hip.”

Pintler suffered lacerations to her arm, right shin and a bump on the back of her head, according to the responding Federal Way police officer.

The police report, filed at 6:49 p.m. that day, states police went to ask the man and his girlfriend what happened and they stated Pintler had come to their front door and was banging on it loudly.

“… They chose not to answer it because it sounded like whoever was angry and they wanted to avoid confrontation,” the police report states.

The man’s girlfriend told police Pintler began yelling at the two and would not leave when they told her to and that as she was holding the door open she eventually pushed Pintler back but it “was not hard enough to cause Barbara to fall and that Barbara had fallen as she was leaving.”

“They told police she didn’t push that hard, then changed her story that I must have fallen,” Pintler said. “They said I was trying to force my way into the house.”

But that’s not what happened, Pintler said.

Police photographed her injuries but told her they couldn’t charge anyone with assault because “it is legal to use reasonable force to remove a trespasser” and that Pintler allegedly didn’t leave after the couple told her to.

“We’ve called police five times and they’ve come to our house three times,” she said.

Pintler filed a petition for a temporary protection order for harassment on Aug. 28 against the man but it can’t be activated until he signs it.

“He’s dodging being served,” she said, adding that his front door area is monitored by two surveillance cameras. “We’ve been to court three times since this all started.”

Pintler said the drone has four blades, blue and red flashing lights and a container on the bottom with an attached camera.

Cathy Schrock with the Federal Way Police Department said the department has record of two of Pintler’s drone stalking complaints, one from another citizen in a different neighborhood and another about an elderly man who died when he fell in the water, trying to rescue his drone.

“We don’t really have a significant amount of complaints about the drones,” Schrock said. “At this point, we’re obviously going to listen to the person who calls because there can be … there were some cases in Seattle where someone was prosecuted for flying a drone and taking photos. It could cross over to the voyeurism crime but in each of the cases we’ve dealt with, it’s not there yet.”

Schrock said until there’s a statute that addresses the privacy issue associated with unmanned aircrafts, all police can do is apply the laws in place.

The Federal Aviation Administration states that people who fly drones for hobby or recreational purposes don’t necessarily require approval but all model aircraft operators must operate according to the law.

While the Federal Aviation Administration may take enforcement action against anyone who operates an unmanned aircraft system in a way that endangers the safety of the national airspace system, they currently cannot address privacy issues.

A spokesman with the administration said they have recognized the importance of privacy issues and have formed an inter-agency policy group. He said they are working with agency partners on a whole-of-government approach to managing privacy. Once this whole-of-government approach has been finalized, the administration will assist as required, he said.

Pintler said she hopes state law will change or she may advocate for a city ordinance if things don’t resolve.

“It has changed the whole vibe of this neighborhood,” she said. “I don’t feel comfortable even walking in front of his house.”

Barbara Pintler was injured on Aug. 16 after her neighbor’s girlfriend allegedly pushed her. Pintler had gone to the house to request her neighbors to stop flying their drone near her deck and living room window. Contributed photo