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LI Man Arrested For Shining Laser At Plane, Then Cop Chopper

By

Jen Chung

Published Dec 10, 2011

Modified Dec 10, 2011

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Not actually as cool as this Pink Floyd laser show

 

By

Jen Chung

Published Dec 10, 2011

Modified Dec 10, 2011

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Yes, lasers are cool, but that doesn't mean you should go around shining them at planes and potentially blind pilots! Yesterday, the Suffolk County Police arrested a 21-year-old Long Island man for his laser antics.

According to the Daily News, the FAA told the cops that a plane was being "targeted by a green laser pointer on the ground. As two officers in a police helicopter entered the airspace, they were also targeted by the laser, cops said." Officers on the ground tracked down and arrested David Smith, who faces charges of obstructing government administration. The case was also referred to the Port Authority.

An aviation expert recently said to WCBS 2 that the habit of pointing lasers at pilots is "unusual and highly disturbing. Do we have people fooling around or do we have people who have bad intentions to airliners using a sighting, using a laser as a sighter, a weapon’s sighter, just to see the reaction, just to see if Homeland Security takes this seriously?" The FAA has been investigating lasers aimed at pilots from LaGuardia recently and asked that anyone with information about the incidents contact police or send an e-mail to [email protected].

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laser

long island

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suffolk county

Jen Chung

Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.

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