Sharks with frikkin’ laser beams
A 19-year-old man [ed note: if a gun were involved, he would be a child] was arrested after authorities said he shined a laser pointer at a police helicopter.
The bright green laser beamed into the cockpit late Monday night, temporarily blinding the officers, said Melissa Klein, an NYPD spokeswoman.
Seems pretty annoying but now dastardly. But:
Police arrested Anthony Pepe a short time later, and charged him with reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a weapon, Klein said.
Was the laser attached to a gun? Or is a laser a weapon in New York?
August 2nd, 2006 at 1:44 am
Note that it temporarily blinded the pilot. In a similar incident some time ago, a man was arrested for using one on a landing airliner (having tagged the cockpit “accidently” three times while stargazing). Not a traditional notion of a weapon, no, but used as one it can be effective. I just hope this does not start a call for banning these useful devices.
August 2nd, 2006 at 2:57 am
ABC says it hit the same chopter three times, and says Pepe was hit with “charges of reckless endangerment, menacing and unlawful use of a laser pointer.”
Wonder which one’s wrong, AP or ABC or both?
August 3rd, 2006 at 9:29 am
Even in gun friendly Louisiana, it is against the law to lase a cop.