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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."
$250,000 and 20 years. Definitely an issue cruel and unusual punishment if they got that, imho. At best I can see them being hit with some negligence suit from the pilot from the damage caused. Unless their is a law in place preventing members of the public from illuminating aircraft in operation. If they can prove though, that the couple had the intention of causing the aircraft to crash, they may have a good reason to pursue trial.
"...whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive...it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it..."
You're right. . . . if I get tired of my freedom and wish to go to jail I will do the
:)
following:
I will go out and purchase about 500 of these devices and mount them in an array.
Think of it as a laser based spotlight. . . . .
If Mr. "Oh my eyes hurt, and I was disoriented and they should be locked up for life "
had issues with the single laser, imagine his reaction when he is the recipient of the
cumulative effects of 500 of these things all shining at the same point in space. . . . .
I mean, if you're going to go to jail for something as silly as this, you may as
well go for the gusto and outfit this thing with a focusing lens in front of it. Try
to catch the aircraft on fire !
Intron: the portion of DNA which expresses nothing useful.
Not to mention helicopters are expensive. Don't they cost about a million dollars a year just to maintain? A city can't afford to replace one every time someone decides to play a joke.
if standard scumbag police procedure is pursuing people who engage in reckless endagerment, i'm quite curious as to what your definition of standard virtuous police procedure is
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Exactly. That's why our legal system makes a distinction between "murder" and "attempted murder". This couple should be charged and convicted of attempted murder. Even if they didn't realize the gravity of their actions, "ignorance is no excuse", and anyone that stupid deserves to be jailed for decades, just to keep them from doing something else similarly dangerous.
Bullshit, buddy boy. I used to point my red laser at barn signs at night while I drove home from contract. Middle of country, midnight, no lights. I kept the sign lit for seconds at a time. And at a quarter mile, that dot was about a foot across. Five hundred feet, six inches.
So if I randomly shoot my AK-47 in a crowed mall can I claim that everything is hunky dory just because I am such a piss poor shot that I don't kill anyone?
I think not. More likely is that I am sent to prison for the act of endangering peoples lives even if nobody is hurt.
I dont read
Where in the US is there a STOP sign that does not have the white line in the road and the speed limit is over 30 MPH?
Just a Tuna in the Sea of Life