Police drone helps convict man in Silver Spring stabbing

Drone catches stabbing on video, leading to Silver Spring assault conviction

A Montgomery County jury found 45-year-old Jovan Ali guilty of second-degree assault this week. Officials said the conviction would not have happened without the help of a police drone. FOX 5's Josh Rosenthal has the latest details.

SILVER SPRING - A Montgomery County jury found 45-year-old Jovan Ali guilty of second-degree assault this week. Officials said the conviction would not have happened without the help of a police drone.

It all stems from an incident that occurred last April.

Drone footage showed 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 crime scene. Footage shows police apprehending him minutes later, while also helping the victim, who authorities said needed surgery but survived.

"It is the first case in the history of Montgomery County where you’ve convicted an individual before a jury almost exclusively based on drone footage," explained Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy.

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

Asked whether there would’ve been a conviction in this case without the drone footage, McCarthy replied, "absolutely not."

"We didn’t call the victim in this case. We made this case based on the drone footage and the swift action of the Montgomery County Police Department."

In recent years, police drones have been a hot topic throughout the region, where some have expressed concerns about privacy.

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

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Now though, McCarthy believes attitudes towards the program have changed.

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

On that note, Montgomery County’s drone program is expanding. It’s currently up and running in Silver Spring and Wheaton, and soon, it’s also expected to be operational in Gaithersburg and Bethesda.