Man accused in drone crashes at U.S. Open in court

NEW YORK (WABC) -- A New York City science teacher issued a ticket after his drone illegally flew over the U.S. Open was in court Wednesday.

Daniel Verley, 26, faces charges of reckless endangerment and operating a drone in a New York City public park outside of prescribed area. He received a desk appearance ticket.

The drone buzzed over the court in Louis Armstrong Stadium on Sept. 3 before crashing into the seats. Verley was operating the drone from near the park when he lost control. He apparently did not immediately know it had crashed, but quickly figured it out from social media. Verley then informed security what happened.

It broke into pieces upon landing in the stands, and a match in progress was only briefly interrupted while police and fire department investigated. A match between Flavia Pennetta of Italy Monica Niculescu of Romania was in progress.

According to his attorney, Verley was excited to use the drone, but had little interest in the tennis match. "He was there to photograph the sun setting at Flushing Meadow Park, said D. Andrew Marshall.

Verley is a teacher at the Academy of Innovative Technology in Brooklyn. An official at the New York City Department of Education told ABC News that Verley is a science teacher at K618, and started there in 2013. "This is not a school-related incident, and we will monitor the criminal case closely. Any disciplinary action will be taken based on the information from the criminal case."

Marshall said Verley had hoped to use the drone in his classroom; he teaches science technology engineering. His goal was to try to understand how to use the drone and to share that with his students in his curriculum.

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Here's how it impacted the match:

Here's a photo of police and event officials checking out the drone:

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The Associated Press and ABC News contributed to this report.