Slashdot Mirror
Couple Busted For Shining Laser At Helicopter
coondoggie sends us to another Network World piece, this one about a couple charged with shining a green laser into the cockpit of a police helicopter. The FBI and the US attorney's office charged the California couple under a federal statute. They could end up paying a $250,000 fine and doing 20 years of jail time. "The complaint states that on November 8, 2007, at about 10:55 p.m., a green laser beam illuminated the cockpit of a Kern County Sheriff's Department helicopter, which was flying at 500 feet during routine patrol in Bakersfield, California. When the light hit the cockpit, it disoriented the Kern County Sheriff's pilot, causing pain and discomfort in his eyes for a couple of hours, the FBI said in a statement."
I wasn't flying a helicopter, though. My retina had torn, and the surgeon welded it back together.
I fail to see why this story made slashdot. I read a newspaper article last year IIRC about a fellow getting jailed for shining a laser at a commercial air liner, which would be far more dangerous than shining it at a police helicopter. Well, to anybody but the guy with the laser anyway.
The danger, of course, is that the pilot will be blinded or disoriented and could crash the vehicle. After the surgery on my retina I couldn't see out of that eye for several hours. A passenger liner crash would kill more passengers than a helicopter with a couple of cops in it, and as it's bigger and has lots more fuel could kill more people on the ground.
If you're going to shine lasers at cops, do it on the ground. It will likely be the last thing you ever do, as they'll just figure you've got a laser sighted gun shoot you dead.
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
A few years ago, I had some kids shine a laser pointer in my eyes while I was driving a car on a dark road, with my family aboard. It caused me to drive off onto the shoulder of the road. If I had lost slightly more control, it would have cost my family their lives.
Doing this to someone is no joke. It is not an innocent crime, as it is far more dangerous than it sounds. In my case, it amounted to something approaching attempted murder (since I'm sure that the people doing it knew it had the potential to be dangerous, although they may not have considered how dangerous).
Doing it to a helicopter, where it could cause the pilot to lose control, and not only kill the pilot but occupants of dwellings below, is even more serious.