Drones can do things that were previously inconceivable or prohibitively expensive. With a high-definition camera on board, a commercial drone can capture pictures and video that were previously only attainable via a helicopter camera crew. The flying machines can also deliver packages. That, or they can drop a 30-lb payload on a parked SUV like an unguided bomb. 

The chances that a drone will drop a car battery on a Ford Escape are low, but never zero

In a popular Instagram video with thousands of likes, a driver is standing next to her red first-generation Ford Escape parked near the front entrance of a business. She opens the passenger-side rear door and places her child’s car seat within. The Ford’s owner then walks around the compact SUV and slides into the driver’s seat.

However (and luckily so), the driver finds a reason to get back out of the red Ford Escape. She makes a beeline for the establishment’s front door. It was her sunglasses. She had left them at the front desk. Sunglasses in hand, she returns to the SUV. Then the camera catches it: the mechanical, almost mosquito-like buzz of an approaching drone.

The drone hovers above the Ford Escape for a moment. Boom. Its payload, a car battery, comes crashing down onto the front passenger-side segment of the Escape’s roof. Now, a lead-acid battery like you might find in an older SUV can weigh between 30 and 50 lbs. As such, the battery had no problem crushing a large portion of the roofline and shattering the windshield.

Horrifyingly, the child was in the parked Ford SUV at the time of the impact. The driver yelled an expletive and sprinted to recover the young child. Although crying, the child seemed uninjured by the falling battery. The driver scooped the child up and left the SUV, perhaps worried that something else would happen. 

Still, some viewers judged the event as a bit too unbelievable. One viewer, for instance, claimed that a mother or caretaker would never leave a child unattended to recover a pair of sunglasses. Even for a moment. Staged or not, the event is a sobering reminder of how quickly things can turn. Take a look for yourself below!