A drone hovers nearby as Taylor Ellis walks along the Anawan Cliffs shoreline in March 2023.

Tensions over public shoreline access erupted into felony charges for a Narragansett resident of the town's pricy Anawan Cliffs neighborhood, who is accused of allegedly menacing fishermen with a drone, hitting golf balls in their direction, taking their sweatshirts and then flashing a loaded firearm.

Bryan J. Machala, 41, faces felony charges for assault and possession of a large-capacity magazine. He was also charged with disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor.

The confrontation took place on the morning of Saturday, Sept. 20, on the rocks below a waterfront home on Cliff Drive that is valued at $7.7 million and belongs to Machala's mother, according to property records. A detailed written narrative from the Narragansett Police Department indicates that the four fishermen were not trespassing on private property.

A man who answered a phone number listed for Machala hung up on a Providence Journal reporter seeking comment.

What happened between the resident and fishermen?

In interviews with police, the fishermen said they used the public Whale Rock Trail to get to down to the rocky shoreline near Camp Varnum, and slowly made their way north while flipping over rocks and looking for crabs to use as bait.

Around 9 a.m., after they reached their fishing spot below Anawan Cliffs, the men noticed a drone flying overhead that "started coming very close to them and was 'buzzing their heads' at approximately 75 mph," the police report states. They told police that they didn't think much of it until Machala began using a driver to hit golf balls off his balcony – allegedly aiming in their direction.

The fishermen told police that Machala yelled at them, saying they were on his property and making comments like, "You're gonna get hit!" or "If you get hit, it's not my problem!" They ignored the provocations until Machala walked down to the beach, picked up two sweatshirts that the fishermen had left on the shore, and began heading back to his house.

One of the fishermen followed at a distance and asked Machala to return the sweatshirts, but "was unable to reason with him," the police narrative states. Another fisherman began filming the confrontation on his cell phone.

According to the arrest report, the video shows Machala standing at the edge of his family's property, behind a row of shrubs. He throws the sweatshirts down and yells "[expletive] you" when the fisherman begins walking over to retrieve them. When the fisherman is about 15 to 25 feet away from him, Machala lifts up his baggy, long-sleeve Carhartt T-shirt and pulls out a black pistol from the waistband of his jeans.

The video, which was watched by the responding officers and described in the police report, then appears to show Machala racking the slide to chamber a round while pointing the pistol at the ground, the police report states. The fisherman puts his hands up, and Machala tucks the gun away.

The fishermen, whose names are redacted in the report, told police that they feared for their lives. One said he got the feeling that Machala was trying to use the sweatshirts to lure him onto private property so that he’d have an excuse to pull the trigger.

Cell phone video undermines Machala's story, police say

Narragansett police were familiar with Machala from past contacts, the report states. When interviewed, Machala claimed that the fishermen were on his private property, which was untrue, the report says.

Machala told police that he yelled at the fishermen to stay below the high tide line. He then noticed sweatshirts left on the beach above the high tide line, and went to collect them because people often leave trash behind on his property, he said. (Under Rhode Island law, the public can use the shoreline up to 10 feet above the high tide line.)

Machala told police that one of the fishermen came charging after him, yelling about theft. He said he tossed a sweatshirt in the man’s direction, and the man put his hands up.

When Detective Joseph Ferle asked why the fisherman would put his hands up, Machala said he didn’t know. He “showed signs of deception” and avoided eye contact while answering the question, Ferle wrote.

After being shown a written version of his statement, Machala changed his story, telling police that the fisherman must have caught a glimpse of his firearm when he threw the sweatshirt down. He denied putting his hand on the gun, but the cell phone video contradicted his account, the police report says.

“After our interview, I printed the typed statement and provided it to Machala to review and sign,” Ferle wrote. “He spent nearly 15 minutes reading over the three pages of writing which took me less than 2 minutes to get through. He asked to change several things in the statement which I noted above. I reminded him that what was written down was exactly what he had provided but he insisted on changing it anyway prior to signing.”

Machala “appeared to be memorizing his statement in an attempt to provide a similar statement in the future,” Ferle concluded.

Drone encounter may not be isolated incident

In his conversations with police, Machala said he has a permit to carry a concealed weapon in Florida, but not in Rhode Island. He indicated that he usually keeps the gun, a Glock 19, in his waistband while inside the house.

After initially telling Ferle that he never keeps a round in the chamber, he changed his story and said that he always keeps the gun loaded when at home.

Police arrested Machala and took possession of the Glock 19. After getting permission to search his home, they also located a 15-round magazine loaded with 14 rounds – a violation of Rhode Island's 2022 ban on high-capacity magazines.

Machala told police that he’d been hitting golf balls into the ocean from his lawn earlier that day, the report states. It doesn't indicate whether he was asked about the drone, which may not have been an isolated incident.

In 2023, a Providence Journal reporter joined Taylor Ellis, who was attempting to walk Rhode Island's entire coastline, for the rocky stretch between the Whale Rock Preserve and Anawan Cliffs. While the pair were clambering over the shoreline along the Anawan Cliffs neighborhood, a drone materialized. It appeared to surveil them and flew right over their heads at a high speed before disappearing.

Shoreline access advocate Conrad Ferla said he was also chased by a drone while walking along the shore below Anawan Cliffs a few years ago, but doesn't know who was flying it.

Machala is scheduled to appear in District Court on Dec. 12.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: A drone, golf balls and a gun: How shoreline access tensions erupted in Rhode Island

Reporting by Antonia Noori Farzan, Providence Journal / The Providence Journal

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